T H E A R A B B U I L D E R S

OF ZIMBABWE

JAMES E. MULLAN

Printed by

RHODESIA MISSION PRESS P. B. P7024. Umtali

RHODESIA

The Emozaid 10

Identification of Emozaid with Ba Lemba 10

A Synopsis 10

The Ba-Lemba 15

The Yemen and Hadhramaut 25

A Comparison between Yemen and Inyanga Terraces 29

The followers of Zaid and other Mohammedan Sects 31

Pre-Muslim Arab Beliefs 32

East African Arab settlements 33

Quotations from early writings about East Africa 34

The Ba-Lemba—The Emozaid 45

Who were the Limis? 47

The Limi period 52

Coming of the Karanga 52

Place and Origin of BaKaranga and Ba tonga 53

The Coming of the Portuguese 54

D'Aleacova's Account 56

Monomotapa and Zimbabwe 59

Monomotapa's Residences 59

The Lehoya or Ghoya 62

The Conical Tower 81

The Workmen Builders Under the Emozaid 83

The Wak-Wak 86

The Hottentots 87

Arab names for towns 92

Arab skill in operation 93

Skeletal remains 95

The Ancient Mines 102

The Kingdom of Monomotapa 110

Monomotapa and the BaKalanga 115

The Butwa-Torwa Territory 122

Some Traditions concerning the Butwa-Torwa King­dom 124

The BaMwenye 127

Conclusions 130

Lost and Found 139

Important Additional Information 141

Appendix A 147

Appendix B 157

Appendix C 160

Appendix D 161

Index 164

TO MY WIFE

WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF HER PATIENT

LONG-SUFFERING WITH ME, WHEN AT TIMES I

WAS ABSORBED IN THE NECESSARY RESEARCH

FOR THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS BOOK.

By the same Author:

Germanic Clay.

Israel. Ten Tribes—The Ashkenazim.

Ulster Clans (Joint Author with Rev. T. H.

Mullin).

I acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to the following for permission to quote from their various writings, as mentioned below—

Mr. Roger Summers—"Zimbabwe—A Rhodesian Myst­ery", published by Nelsons, Johannesburg; and ''Vanished Civilisations", published by Thames and Hudson, London.

Dr. N. J Van Warmelo of the Department of Bantu Administration and Development, Pretoria, for permis­sion to quote from the Ethnological Publications of the Government of the Republic of South Africa

Mr. James Walton for "African Village Dr. Caton'Thompson for "Zimbabwe Culture". Dr. E. Axelson M.A., D. Litt. for "South East Africa" Messrs Macmillan & Co., for Prof. P. K . Hitti's "History

of The Arabs."

Mr. J. Farquahar, Editor of NADA, for permission to quote from various articles appearing in NADA,

The Misses Bullock for permission to quote from Mr, Charles Bullock's book—"The Mashona And The Mata-bele".

Messrs George Allen & Unwin Ltd., for permission to quote from Mr. Hans Helfritz's book "The Yemen—A Secret Journey".

Messrs Cassel & Co, Ltd., for permission to quote from Mr. B. G. Paver's book—"Zimbabwe Calcade".

My grateful thanks are also due to my daughters and Mrs. B. Holmes for typing my manuscript.

My grateful thanks also to my good friend Mr. P. Joubert, Photographer of Newcastle, Natal, for the photographs of the Transvaal Lemba one of whom seen on the cover is of our respected Minister of the Gospel—Amos Tobakale, who dressed as an Arab for the occasion.

Thanks also to the Rhodesian Department of Tourism for permission to use their splendid photographs.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks also to my sons-in-law, Mr. F Parsons for his kindness in arranging for the production of the cover for this book and Mr. P. Warne for assisting with the proof reading.

Then lastly, my grateful thanks to Miss Anna Porteous MA., for correcting the typescript, and Mr. P. Warne for performing the ardous task of proof-reading, for this book.

JAMES E. MULLAN 1 Darlington Road

East London, South Africa.

1969

INTRODUCTION

This book represents an attempt by one who might be described as "the man in the street", to co-relate the findings and opinions of the experts in order to obtain a solution of the Zimbabwe mystery. In doing so, as is only too evident, the writer can lay no claim to having produced something of literary merit—with the possible exception of a few quotations from the various authors, whose works have been consulted, and to whom, because of their contributions towards the solving of this intriguing mystery, we are all greatly indebted.

This work was not undertaken because of being prompt­ed by some particular political bias, but is the outcome of an interest in the Ba Lemba. which was awakened in the author many years ago. when serving as a mission­ary in the Northern Transvaal, but which only now, after so long a time, has resulted, through opportunity for further study of the subject, in the production of this book.

The question may well be asked: But why another book on this subject, especially in view of the fact, that many, considered to be experts, have written and ex­pressed their conclusions?

The reason is this—that the experts together with other so-called experts, fall in the main into two schools of thoughts - one, the school holding the "ancient" theory; and the other the theory that the Zimbabwes are of comparatively recent origin, and are the work of the Bantu; and THE THEORY OF NEITHER SCHOOL AP­PEARS TO FIT INTO THE PERIOD INDICATED BY THE C.14 TEST, ie. AROUND THE YEAR 702 A.D. THUS THE PERIOD POSTULATED BY ONE SCHOOL IS TOO EARLY, AND THAT OF THE OTHER SCHOOL IS TOO LATE!

The exponents of the first-mentioned theory, which we have termed the "ancient" theory, believe variously, that Great Zimbabwe was built in King Solomon's time, perhaps by the Queen of Sheba. Others believe that

4

Zimbabwe is not quite so ancient, -but was built by the Himyarites of Southern Arabia. Then others, and among them Dr. A. J. Bruwer, who has written perhaps the most recent book on the subject, are those who believe that Zimbabwe was built by the Phonicians. All ad­herents of the "ancient" theory believe that Zimbabwe was built some considerable time before the commence­ment of the Mohammedan era; and in this connection the writer referred to above—Dr. A, J. Bruwer—states that "We can be quite sure that, long before the time when the fanatical Islamic Arabs made contact with the Sofala Coast again in A.D, 732, and after they had been checked in Europe at the battle of Tours in the same year, the Phoenician chapter in the South-East African History was closed for good".

Coming now to what we have termed the "modern" school, which numbers in its ranks some eminent archaeologists, we find that they have all come to the conclusion that Zimbabwe was built by the Bantu. Un­fortunately for the present exponents of this latter theory, and even as expressed by one of them—a degree of consternation was manifest in their ranks, when the result of the Carbon 14 Test on the two pieces of Tambootie wood found in the walls of the Zimbabwe Temple, became known. On the other hand the exponents of the "ancient" school, which must of necessity be the recent writers on the subject, appear to ignore the results of the various Carbon 14 tests.

What do the tests reveal which causes consternation among those of the "modern" school, who concluded that the Bantu were the builders? Just this: that whereas the tests on the pieces of Tambootie wood submitted, show that the two pieces were in some way separated from the parent trees, between the years 590 A..D. and 702 A.D.—there is no evidence that the Bantu had as yet arrived in the country we know as Rhodesia. Now, to counteract this setback—Mr. Roger Summers expresses the thought that because of Tambootie wood being almost indestruc­tible—the two pieces of the said wood may have lain about, or have been used in earlier buildings, and

5

because of their almost indestructible nature, could have survived for perhaps a hundred years or more, before being used in the walls of Zimbabwe.

Assuming that this is so, we must not overlook the fact that one of the pieces of Tambootie wood used in the test, is older than the other by one hundred years already, so, as the dating of Zimbabwe must be taken from the later piece, and allowing for it the additional one hundred years suggested by Mr. Summers—this would then mean that the older piece would not be one hundred years old when used in the wall, but two hundred years. This seems too long a period when one considers the possible destructive powers of veldt fires, which must have occur-ed even in those days.

But let us try and go as far as we may be able, with Mr. Summers, and say that the more recent piece of wood lay around for fifty years, even though this must mean that the other piece lay around for one hundred and fifty years before being used—this will only bring us to 750 A.D., which by all accounts is still far too early for the appearance of the Bantu.

Even if we allow one hundred years for the later piece of wood, this would bring us to the year 800 A.D., and that too, must be acknowledged on the strength of the available evidence, to be also too early. It must be conceded that for the Bantu to be the builders, they must of necessity have appeared in Rhodesia long be­fore 800 A.D., to have developed to some extent the art of building with any kind of stone. They would also require to have discovered how to separate the granite slabs from the parent rock in uniform thicknes­ses, using wedges and fire etc. They would require, too, to know how to cut these slabs of uniform thick­ness into the brick-shaped blocks used in the building, and of course, all this development would require con­siderable time. Thus, even the earliest postulated appear­ance of the Bantu, seems therefore, all too late, especial­ly when we consider that the Tambootie wood was taken from that part of the wall displaying the best quality of building ability, where dressed stones of uniform size were used. 6

Let us recollect, too, that on the strength of the evi-dence, the first Bantu to appear on the scene were the proto-Sotho, and the earliest possible date given for their arrival is somewhere around 850 A.D., though if we take it for granted that they were the "tribe of Abyssinians" referred to by the Arab writer Masoudi as recent arrivals, then seeing he wrote somewhere around 950 A.D., the date of their arrival must have been about 930 A.D, or later.

The people dwelling in the land prior to the arrival of these proto-Sotho, were the Bushmen and Hottentots. The former were always cave, or rock-shelter dwellers; and the Hottentots were very little more advanced—using as they sometimes did—the rock-shelters and caves, or else building reed huts covered with mats, and similar to what Burchell found them using in his day. Could the thought be entertained that either the Bushmen or Hot­tentots conceived the idea and executed the tremendous task of building Great Zimbabwe, as well as the numer­ous other Zimbabwes? Very few serious-minded people would be prepared to subscribe to such a thought.

Who then could have performed the building in the period between 700 and say 850 A.D.? Who with suf-ficient ability could have accomplished in that same period—the terracing and irrigation systems and fortifi­cations of Inyanga, as well as the multitudinous ancient and expert mining projects, and the building of not only Great Zimbabwe, but of all the numerous other Zimba-bwes? We submit unhesitatingly that the only possible builders were the refugee Arabs—the followers of Sulei-man and Said, together with the followers of Zaid—the Umma Zaidiiya, known later as the Emozaids.

The purpose of this book is therefore to seek to demon­strate that these were the people on the spot at the required time, and consequently the only possible build­ers.

In concluding this Introduction—I would like to ex­press my appreciation of the gracious reception given me by Mr. Roger Summers in granting me an interview.

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Mr. Summers gave me useful advice an how to publish this work, for although it is not in harmony with his findings, he felt that it was a contribution towards the solution of the Zimbabwe mystery. I was impressed on that occasion, by his remark, that the scientist, and the seeker after the true solution of the mystery, dare not allow himself to he influenced by political bias or opi-nions; but must formulate his conclusions in the interests of science, regardless of how palatable or otherwise, such conclusions might be; and what right-thinking per­son can disagree with such sentiments?

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THE ARAB BUILDERS OF ZIMBABWE

It may be well to commence this book with a few condensed opinions of the experts, as well as some apt quotations from various sources, which may serve as straws in the wind to indicate who were the builders of Zimbabwe, bearing in mind the title of this book.

LEMBA—POSSIBLE ZIMBABWE BUILDERS The first is a quotation from Roger Summers whose

works have been consulted extensively. He says about the Lemba as possible Zimbabwe builders—"The Lemba have undoubted connections with the Arabs, and they may well have inherited some of the secrets of masonry.... it may be that the Lemba provided the technical skill The discrete groups of Lemba have common ideas which seperate them from the people among whom they live.. . their physical features (preserved by intermarriage) are distinctly Semitic; above all they are exceptionally good craftsmen in iron and bronze as well as in pottery... The building of Zimbabwe presented many technical pro­blems which they are more likely to have been able to solve than their Venda, Karanga, Rozwi, Duma or other Shona neighbours".

DATE OF INYANGA TERRACES AND FORTIFICA­TIONS.

Roger Summers on the date of Inyanga and concerning those who lived and worked there: "The sudden appear­ance of blue-green cane beads of undoubted Arab origin tends to support the earlier dating (of around 800 A.D.) . . . I personally prefer the earlier dating, but admit that the evidence for later dating is strong.. .

BUSHMEN AND ANCESTRAL SOTHO EARLY IN-HABITANTS OF INYANGA.

We must endeavour to answer the question; who lived in Inyanga ruins? Schofield believes that the group of ceramic traditions (which he studied) represents the work of ancestral Sotho people... Iron was introduced to Inyanga by an immigrant people. . . whose relics were found in the pits and rough terraces from whence came

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the beautiful Ziwa pottery... they lived peacefully with their Bushmen neighbours and intermarried with them. (A skull discovered shows an admixture of Bush and "negro" features). They had some trade connections, probably indirect, with the East Coast and with Arab traders".

FIRST ANCESTRAL SOTHO. Walton—the author of "African Village"—on the first

Bantu to reach Rhodesia and South Africa; "The first Bantu peoples to reach South Africa were the Ghoya. . . According to Ellenberger they commenced their south­ward migration from the neighbourhood of the Great Lakes during the tenth century and eventually settled in Southern Rhodesia where they stayed for at least two centuries. . . . Evidence of a different nature, how­ever, indicates an earlier date for the migration of the Sotho-Tshwana tribes into Southern Rhodesia.

PROBABLE DATE OF ARRIVAL OF SOTHO AND KARANGA.

Caton-Thompson, on archaeological findings, suggests their arrival in the ninth century or earlier. About 1400 the Sotho were succeeded by the more advanced Karanga.

ARAB ARRIVALS

Miss K.M. Kenyon. B.A.—assistant to Miss Caton-Thompson at Zimbabwe, writes in an appendix to the latter's book "The Zimbabwe Culture": "We have records of a number of specific settlements along the coast (of political and religious refugees from Islam) and these were undoubtedly supplemented by (unrecorded) similar ones... The establishment of a Moslem population on the African coast, was, therefore, a matter of centuries... The Emozaids were the followers of the sect of Zaid... who emigrated in a body to the African coast "from their entrance like a slow plague, they worked their way down the coast occupying new towns"... They had ap-parently penetrated inland to a considerable extent"

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THE EMOZAID. An Arab writer, Dimashqui, who wrote circa 1320,

stated that "the island of Quambalu (Madagascar) had a negro Mohammedan population of the Zaidite and Shafite sects. McCall Theal says that at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese "there were feuds between nearly all the Mohammedan settlements on the coast.. . it was so at Sofala—Acote was at the head of a party at variance with Mengo Musafi... very likely Acote was made Sheik of the Emozaid, as he is stated to have been of that sect, and Suleiman—Sheik of the other Moham­medans. IDENTIFICATION OF EMOZAID WITH BA LEMBA.

Miss Kenyon. as quoted above, says "The Emozaid were followers of the sect of Zald",

Bullock writes of the BaLemba—"They still swear by Sayid (Zaid) but they don't know who he was."

Now having read these few quotations from the works of the foregoing eminent writers—the readers will have probably caught a glimpse of what the author seeks to bring before them in the following pages. A SYNOPSIS.

To ensure that it is clearly understood what the above quotations which we have employed are intended to indicate, the following synopsis is introduced here

The building of Zimbabwe, and the terracing and forti­fications of Inyanga were commenced at a time (as in­dicated by the C.14 test) when only Bushmen and Hot­tentots were available to supply the labour. It is in­conceivable that the plan for these enormous propects originated with them, or that it was carried out by either of these people, for the building-work and general plan continued even after the arrival of the Bantu, as represented by the proto-Sotho.

The conception of what ulimately resulted could only have originated with a people on the spot who had the ability and initiative to conceive and carry out such projects. The necessity of venturing into the territory and the planning of these tremendous undertakings could only have stemmed from some great incentive. The incentive undoubtedly was there, with the discovery that

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in that territory lay untold wealth in the form of gold, ivory and other things. To exploit even these riches must have necessitated the knowledge that there would be ready markets and means of disposing of their pro­ducts to advantage.

The people on the spot who had the ability and the opportunity, and who were forced even of necessity through religious persecution to enter the territory were the Arabs of the sect of Zaid from the Yemen. Even if it be argued that these projects were commenced before the arrival of the adherents of this religious sect, the fact should not be lost sight of that their compatriots from the Yemen and Hadhramaut, had, even before the Mohammedan era ventured down the coast and opened up trade, and had established stations for this purpose for centuries, and consequently, they, therefore, were in a position to have begun operations at a much earlier date than the Emozaid Then too, it should be remem­bered that there were also the Emozaids' kindred reli­gious refugees—the followers of Suleiman and Said, of an earlier date than the Emozaid.

These Arabs of the sect of Zaid, and the followers of Suleiman and Said, it may be conceded, would have encountered little difficulty in winning their compatriots to the new faith, and thus these Arabs would by this means be bound together against the encroachments of the other Arabs of the opposing Mohammedan sects who followed them.

Those first employed by the Arabs in the work of making the terraces and building fortifications would be of necessity the Bushmen, and, followed by, or, as being present at the same time—the Hottentots. No Bantu were present at that early stage.

According to Arab records the Bantu first appear on the scene some time at the beginning of the tenth century, when according to the Arab writer, Masoudi, who died in 950 A.D., there arrived in the Sofala area, at some time just before his visit, a people whom he described as a tribe of Zendi from Abyssinia. Their name for the Supreme Being, used by these first Bantu arrivals

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gives a clue to their identity—that of the proto-Sotho, as they are referred to by the experts.

These proto-Sotho, as shall be demonstrated later, are to be identified mainly with the Ghoya. They became for several centuries the dominant people under Arab direction, in Rhodesia the "Land of Gold", from Masoudi's time, until some time after 1350 A.D., at which time they were still in a position of strength, and in control as a strong people, defying all comers, according to Ibn Battutah, who wrote of them at that time.

The findings of the archaeologists tend to show that other Bantu peoples only arrived on the scene at some time after the above date of 1350 A.D., but nearer to, or perhaps even as late as 1450 AD. These newcomers were the Ba Tonga and Ba Kalanga

These Bantu drove a wedge into this Arab-controlled Kingdom of the proto-Sotho—the Ghoya, and their vassal peoples—the Bushmen and Hottentots.

This Kindom of the Ghoya was under the governorship of the Ameer of the Emozaid Arabs, who up to that time had his residence at Sena, to which place came the various Arab and Indian merchants for the purpose of trade, as well as to Sofala—the main port. As far back as Idrisi's time (circa 1150) and according to his writings, the Governor (Ameer) of the Kingdom of Sofala, resided at this place Sena, with his soldiers.

After the overthrow of the Ameer's people, who were Emozaid, together with the Ba Sotho Ghoya under the Chieftainship of one—Shangamire, there was continuous war between the Ameer's people and Monomotapa—the ruler of the Ba Kalanga. and his vassals - the Ba Tonga. This war prevented the flow of gold to the coast, as the gold was found mainly in the western section of the Ameer's kingdom. This brought great concern to the Portuguese who in 1500 had just arrived on the scene, with tremendous expectations of obtaining enormous wealth from the interior

The coming of the Portuguese to Sofala brought hope to Monomotapa whose wedge-shaped kingdom (called "Empire" by the Portuguese) extended to Sofala.

The Monomotapa's representatives at Sufala filled the

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ears of the Portuguese Governor of the fort there with stories of their "Emperor's" greatness, and of the vast-ness of his "Empire". To gain his sympathy, with no doubt the expectation of military aid, they explained the reason for the cessation of the flow of gold, as being attributable to an insurrection in the Kingdom brought about by the rebellion, as they said, of the Monomotapa's viceroy—the Ameer. Though the latter had been killed— his people under Shangamire (i.e. Sha-nka-Ameer— Father or Patron of the Ameer) with the Ameer's relative, Tolwa, still carried on the war, so, no doubt, the Mono-motapa's ernmissaries would suggest that as all the gold, or most of it was to be found in the Ameer's Kindom, it followed that Tolwa and his people had to be over­come in order that the flow might continue as formerly. Every other means, they said, had been tried, to bring about reconciliation with Tolwa on the part of the Emperor, Monomotapa, but to no avail. However, in spite of every attempt, the Kingdom of Tolwa—the Ameer's relative—now known as the Butwa-Tolwa or Torwa Kingdom, remained inviolate, while the Monomo-tapa's "empire" after passing through viscissitudes due to numerous upheavals during the centuries—even though bolstered up by the Portuguese—ultimately broke up and completely disintegrated.

There is no evidence that Monomotapa ever had any­thing to do with Zimbabwe, He and his subjects—the Ba Kalanga, seemed to be in ignorance too, of events and happenings in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. Not only were the main gold-mines in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, but also Great Zimbabwe, as well as most of the lesser Zimbabwes.

That which occasioned a great change in the affairs of the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, was the invasion of the people of Mambo, who were probably of the tribe of the Ambo. The "Mambo" or chief of these invading tribes "took over" this Butwa-Torwa kingdom and at same time after this, his own people became known as the Ba-Rozwi, after the name of one of their chiefs "Rozwi"—according to Venda tradition. He also, to give himself prestige, assumed the title of "Shangamire", in

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addition to his own, so that thereafter, he was to be referred to as "Shangamire Mambo". However, though as already pointed out, this Bantu title appears to mean "the Patron of the Ameer", there are not sufficient grounds for believing that he looked on the Ameer or his people in any very favourable light. In course of time the Ameer's people—the Emozaid, as suggested earlier, gradually fade into the background, and are afterwards referred to merely as Ba-Lemba., which appears to be a Bantu corruption for "Arabs",—thus "Alaba" for "Arabs" with the "Ba" plural prefix, then the gradual change from Ba-Laba to Ba-Lemba. These Ba-Lemba, in spite of being so reduced, still retain the somewhat grudging, and perhaps superstitious respect of their Bantu neighbours, who continued to refer to them until recently as Ba-Lungu, i.e.—the "white people", and talk of them as "The people who can make anything", also as "The good people, the great traders of Rhodesia".

THE BA-LEMBA

The foregoing synopsis is briefly what is now intended for demonstration in a fuller sense in the ensuing chapt­ers, and since the Ba-Lemba have just now been brought to the reader's attention, it may be well to elaborate somewhat on the above remarks concerning these very interesting people.

They have been noticed, though somewhat briefly, by a number of prominent writers and authorities, who are nearly all agreed that they are of Semitic origin. Some of these writers refer to them as the African or Bantu Jews, though most writers see in them an Arab people, or at least a people with long and close connections with the Arabs. Some go further and find in them an Arab tribe that has gradually lost its identity, as the men of the tribe, through necessity, over a long period of time, took wives from among the Bantu, among whom they resided. While this latter appears to be the case, never theless these Ba-Lemba even to this present time, in an endeavour to preserve their racial purity, have very strict laws governing the marriage of a Lemba man to what

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they term a Senzi or Mu-Senji woman, This word "Mu-Senji" was, at least until recently, an Arab term of contempt for those Bantu who had not come fully under Arab influence, nor accepted the Mohammedan religion, and was formerly in common use on the East coast and even as far inland as Congo—wherever the Arabs had penetrated. It is, of course, derived from the very ancient name for that part of the East coast of which Zanzibar was the centre, which was originally known as the King­dom of Zend of the native population, as distinct from the Arabs. Ultimately the name came to be used by the Arabs in the way just described The manner in which the Ba-Lemba use the word is typically Arab, and indicates clearly their Arab origin, in that it has been preserved by them, though it is not in use among those tribes with whom they dwell.

The law among the Ba-Lemba governing the marriage of a Mu-Sendzi man to a Lemba woman, is even more severe, for the man of the Bantu, had, at least in the past, to go through a ceremony of purification by fire, which involved having dry grass tied round his body and which was then set alight. According to some autho­rities the ceremony mercifully took place near a stream or lake so as to give the hapless individual an opportunity of rolling into the water, and so saving himself from being burnt to death. These efforts at maintaining their racial purity have to quite an extent resulted in the preservation of the Semitic appearance of the Ba-Lemba, wherever they are found. This attempt at the preser­vation of their own racial purity did not, we may believe, prevent their men folk from having promiscuous relation-ships with the women of the tribes among whom they dwelt, and this has resulted in the appearance in these tribes and particularly, according to Stayt, among the Ba-Venda—with whom the BaLemba have long so­journed, of persons having a Semitic appearance and also of soft hair, differing from the ordinary hair of the Bantu. Stayt, who wrote about the Ba-Venda, says that small ears, small hands and feet, and small dark brown eyes are common amongst the Ba-Venda, which, he sug­gests, may be derived from an Arab source.

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Another very strict law among the Ba-Lemba is one which is akin to the law of "kosher" among the Jews, and similar observances among the Arabs. So strictly is this law observed among the Ba-Lemba that not even their womenfolk dare eat the meat of an animal which had not been killed by the approved method of cutting the animal's throat. Then too, with an animal devoted to sacrifice, great care must be taken so that the con­tents of the stomach do not emerge from the beast's throat to defile the sacrifice. Among the Ba-Venda, when a beast is to be killed they will usually permit a Mu-Lemba to slit the animal's throat so that he may also partake of the meat, or otherwise he dare not eat it. Animals regarded by the Ba-Lemba as unclean, such as the pig, though eaten with relish by the other tribes among whom they dwell, are taboo to these people.

This strict observance of having to kill an animal by cutting its throat in an approved manner has so impres­sed itself on the Ba-Lemba over the centuries, that in the process of time through being confused as to the purpose of the rite, they began at some time in the past to apply the same law even to a Mu-Lemba approach­ing death, or to one of their number found already dead. The manner of burial among them is believed to be pecu­liarly Arab, and certainly differs from that of the Bantu among whom they live, or at least those who do not practise the European form of burial, but bury the corpse in a sitting position. The Ba-Lemba place the straightened-out corpse in a cavity made in the side of the grave and not in the actual pit which would normally be the grave after the European fashion.

Another strict law which would appear to indicate that the Ba-Lemba are of Arab origin is that of circumcision, practised, not as with the Jews, the eighth day after birth, but later, as with the Arabs—in early youth—after the manner of Ishmael's circumcision. Some of the tribes among whom the Ba-Lemba dwell, adopted circumcision from them, whilst other tribes which had afterwards come into the areas where once the Ba-Lemba were a powerful people—do not practise it. This is very similar to what obtains in the Congo, where the tribes over

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which the Arabs exerted the greatest influence still prac­tise circumcision, whilst other tribes, not so infuenced, do not practise the rite, and are looked upon, and pro­nounced as "Ba-Sendji" by those who do.

While the Ba-Lemba in general would appear to be ignorant as to their origin, nevertheless there are those among them who have a strong tradition that they are Arabs. This information has been obtained from this secretive people by Dr. N, J. Van Warmelo, who is an authority on the Ba-Lemba, and who has written of his discovery in a pamphlet, published in West Germany. Ac­cording to this tradition, the Ba-Lemba tribal historians state that their forefathers came to the land we know as Rhodesia as traders, but owing to the intervention of a certain unknown or unstated circumstance, they found that they could not return to their own land. Thereafter, in course of time, they consequently were forced to take wives from among the natives, and so at the present time have almost lost their Arab identity.

As mentioned elsewhere, there is a further tradition that they came to this land (of Rhodesia) by sea. The name of the sea was Pusela. It is possible that this name Pusela was originally something like "Bu-Sahil" i.e. the sea of the Swahili. When we remember that these tradi­tions cover a period of more than 1200 years, it is amazing that so much has been retained, especially in view of the fact that during the various tribal upheavals the Ba-Lemba have endeavoured to hide their identity to the extent of dropping former clan names and adopting new-ones, so that their enemies might not recognise them as Ba-Lemba and Arabs, so bringing about their destruction. This is also one reason why they have not more frequent­ly been recognised as the builders of Zimbabwe, for they have learned by their past bitter experiences, that any ostentatious display of cleverness brings the jealous en­mity of their neighbours into operation against them. They are accustomed to being viewed with superstitious awe by the tribes among whom they dwell, and are likely to be accused of being the authors of disaster, or of being practisers of witchcraft. How different this state of affairs is from what they were accustomed to during the period

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of their former greatness, when according to the Arab records the native population of that time prostrated themselves before the Arabs, crying out "Welcome, O great sons of Yemen". Even to this day there still re­mains an echo of their former glory, for Bullock has remarked that he has known of the Ba-Lemba being addressed by the Bantu as "Ba-Lungu" i.e. "white men".

There is another tradition of great significance among the Ba-Lemba, if it can be called a tradition—it is their veneration of the name Zaid, though according to Bullock who writes the name Sayid—"While they still swear by Zaid, they know not who he is"—This name Zaid, never theless, gives us not only a strong indication of their origin, but also of the form of Mohammedanism ad-hered to by the ancestors of the Ba-Lemba, for Zaid was a religious leader of what was looked on as an heretical Moslem sect from the Yemen in the early days of Moham­medanism. The Ba-Lemba in the Transvaal also venerate the name Sadiki, which name as Sadiq also figures prominently in early Mohammedan history. Then too, in Rhodesia, the eastern Lemba, who are not Chief Mpo-ssi's people, and who are known as Ba-Mwenye, seem to venerate and swear by Seremane, which nams is un­doubtedly a corruption of Suleiman, and we need have no hesitancy in indentifying the said Suleiman with another religious leader of the early days of Moham­medanism. Suleiman, together with his brother—Said, were forced to flee from their country of Oman because they refused to submit to the then Caliph—Abdul Malik.

There is no reason to doubt that these two Arab peoples, who were closely related, and who differed little in the form of Mohammedanism to which each subscribed, were ultimately brought together due to the intense persecution levelled against them by the Caliphate. In fact so close appears to be their identity that some writers incline to the view that both peoples eventually became known as Emozaid. All of them (Mpossi's people and Ba-Mwenye) at the present, greet one another as "Musoni" which appears to be a corruption for "Sunni"— the name used from the beginning of their faith, by all who regarded themselves as orthodox Mohammedans.

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The Emozaid Arabs fled from their homelands—the Yemen and Hadhramaut—owing to the religious persecu­tion which broke out against them and the founder of their sect—Zaid, who was a descendant of the Prophet, and who was slain in conflict with his enemies on the East African Coast in A.D. 739, as would appear from some accounts.

The followers of Suleiman and Said, who under these two leaders rebelled against the Caliphate, and suffering defeat in the ensuing conflict, also fled with their leaders to the East African Coast, though at an earlier date than Zaid and his followers. These followers of Sulei­man and Said who were of the House of Azd, originally came to Oman from the Yemen,

Some of the followers of Zaid remained on in the Yemen and Hadhramaut, in which countries the main body of the sect of Zaid is to be found at the present time. Those who fled with their leader Zaid to the East African Coast, are stated to have progressed down the coast "like a slow plague".

The account of the Emozaid and their journey down the coast has been preserved to us by de Barros, a Portuguese writer, who shortly after the arrival of the Portuguese on the East Coast, compiled a history from existing Arab records, as well as from certain traditions current among the Arabs. The historian George McCall Theal, who used these records in compiling that part of his "History of South Africa" which refers to the Arabs on the East Coast, has this to say concerning Zaid—"that he was the grandson of Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of Mo­hammed, whose religious opinions were not in accordance with the Koran as interpreted by the Arabian teachers, and was therefore banished from his home. With his adherents who were the Emozaidi he passed over to the African coast and formed some temporary settlements of no great importance along it. These people were of a roving disposition and gradually moved southwards, avoid­ing conflict with the blacks, but incorporating many of them until in course of time they became hardly dis­tinguishable from the Africans except by the profession

20

of a form of the Mohammedan creed and somewhat higher way of lving, .. "

If Theal gained his information from de Barros' writ­ings, then these must, judging by their tone, have been based on records procured from Arabs of one of the other Mohammedan sects, such as the Shiites, of which sect they were an heretical offshoot, and which would have in consequence a hatred for the Emozaid. Theal's statements based as they were on the Arab records, appear to bear out what is pointed out above—that Zaid was killed in conflict with these other Arabs on the East African Coast.

It is stated that the Caliph Abdul Malik sent some Syrian adherents of the Caliphate to settle along the East Coast, seemingly with the intention of opposing these heretics—which at that time were the followers of Suleiman and Said, who had fled there about 684 A.D. The above mentioned Syrians came in 696. Shortly after­wards, the followers of Zaid also put in an apperance and as would appear, after various conflicts with these ene­mies, Zaid was killed somewhere on the coast in AD. 739. He and his followers had, we are told, made their way slowly down the coast, no doubt seeking for a suitable new land in which to settle.

How long it took both these parties of refugees to reach the "Land of Gold" (Rhodesia) we do not know, suffice it to say that there was sufficient time for them to be there, before the estimated dates when the Inyanga terraces and Great Zimbabwe were commenced.

Roger Summers, who is acknowledged to be a leading authority on both Inyanga and Zimbabwe suggests that the terraces and fortifications of Inyanga date from around 800 A.D. Then with regard to the date of the erection of Great Zimbabwe, and even though the C.14 test on the two pieces of Tambootie wood found in the wall of the "Temple" of Great Zimbabwe give a date of about 700 A.D, as the age of the wood, this may not be the date of the building, for as Summers points out—"Ta-mbootie wood having an astringent sap, which if it gets into the eyes, can blind a man; so to day nobody will cut

21

down a Tambootie tree, and if he wants one, he waits till he finds one lying on the ground and completely dried out. Now as Tambootie is ant-proof, and practically in­destructible, a tree might easily lie in the veld for a century or more." As this appears to be sound reason­ing, we have good grounds for believing that there was ample time for the Emozaid and their fellow refugees to have reached the "Land of Gold" and to have com­menced these tremendous undertakings at the date indi­cated by Mr, Summers. In fact, if we take into considera­tion the date given for the departure of the first refugees —the followers of Suleiman and Said from Oman—that of 684 A.D., there was ample time for them to be in the land that is now Rhodesia, to commence the building of Zimbabwe, even if it be insisted that we must adhere to the year 702 A.D., as the date for the commencement of the building. Almost twenty years would have elapsed since their flight from Oman, and this lengthy period is undoubtedly ample time for this refugee people to find a new homeland; especially when we take into considera­tion that their flight down the coast must have been accelerated by the advent of the considerable force of Syrians which the Caliph Abdul Malik sent after them, to either bring them under his authority, or be extermin­ated. That these Syrians were not a mere handful of the Caliph's adherents is evidenced by the fact that they are stated to have built some thirty-five towns by the year 696 A.D., according to the Chronicle of Pate.

That the followers of Suleiman and Said were also numerous appears from the account given by Miss (now Dr.) K, M. Kenyon, of their flight. She writes "The first account of a specific emigration from Arabia to East Africa occurred about 684 A.D., though it is probable that some Persians arrived on the coast as early as the sixth centrury. The people of Oman, descendants from the immigrants from Yemen, never really accepted the authority of the Caliphate, in spite of numerous efforts to subdue them. One such effort in 684, was for the time successful, and resulted in the emigration of the native leaders, Suleiman and Said, with a large number of fol­lowers to the east African coast. It is not quite clear

22

whether this emigration is distinct from that of the Emozaids, mentioned by De Barros and others, but it seems probable that it was, though the details differ considerably".

Now even allowing for the possibility of a temporary settlement of these first refugees at Pate, as hinted at by Dr. Kenyon, it seems evident that their peace there would be rudely disturbed by the advent of the above-mentioned Syrians; so that although forced to move southward, as undoubtedly they would be, the period of even one year would be adequate to permit them the further flight down the coast to the Sofala area, and into the interior. It should be recognised that a numerous refugee people, without a homeland, would be likely, in desperation, to make their way inland in search of a new homeland suit­able to their needs.

Thus, we can assume that even before the year 700, this people would have time to entrench themselves al­ready in the land we now know as Rhodesia. The first consideration in their new land would be the preparation of ground suitable to the production of the type of vege-table foods to which they were accustomed. Here then, is where old remembered skills came into operation, and terracing, and an irrigation system, would he put into operation.

Already, if we are to accept that they are the engineers of the system of terraces stated to exist in the vicinity of Pate, the ancient knowledge handed down from their forefathers, had been put in operation, for if should be remembered that these refugees, even though they had fled from Oman, were Yemenites of the House of Azd. The art of terracing, which must have been almost second nature to all Yemenites would not have been forgotten. Thus in the region of Inyanga, a start was made on the construction of terraces and irrigation systems, so that an adequate supply of food might be provided for these numerous Arab settlers. Their superior intelligence and better weapons would enable them to enslave the native population, which at that time comprised Bushmen and Hottentots, with possibly a mixed Bushman-Hottentot section of the populace as well,

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That the followers of Suleiman and Said were joined later by the followers of Zaid—the Emozaid—around the year 740, seems highly probable. That these two refugee peoples did unite either then or later need not be doubted. The founder of the Emozaid religious sect— Zaid, was slain in conflict with the forces of the Caliph higher up the coast probably in the Port Durnford area, where there is some suggestion that they may have attempted to settle. That this area would soon seem too inhospitable goes without saying, surrounded, as they were there, by their enemies—the Syrian followers of the Caliph. Hence, as may readily be accepted, they would move down the coast to where their fellow Yeme­nite co-religionists had already found a refuge. Little difference in matters of faith and practise existed be-tween them, and both parties would also be drawn to­gether, on account of their common enemy—the suppor­ters of the Caliphate. The Emozaid, who would have, possibly, a more highly developed knowledge of the art of terracing and irrigation because of their more recent departure from the Yemen, would prove a welcome addition to these followers of Suleiman and Said, already engaged in terracing the Inyanga hills.

Should the date for the building of Zimbabwe prove to be nearer to 700 A D , than suggested by Roger Sum-mers, which was, in fact, very possible, seeing there is no way of determining at what period of its existence the Tambootie wood was used in the walls, then we must conclude that at least some of the first refugees pressed on into the interior to the Zimbabwe area, and there commenced that tremendous task of building. Their numbers would obviously be added to as time went on, especially after the arrival of the Emozaid. Nevertheless the work of paramount importance in the beginning, would, of necessity, be the production of food at Inyanga. Already too, prospecting in their new homeland would have commenced, for they, no doubt, would be aware already that gold was to be found in considerable quan­tity all over their new territory.

The skill which these Yemenite settlers manifested in their work at Inyanga is not to be wondered at, for as

24

already mentioned, they all came originally from a land where terracing and irrigation had for centuries been practised. That this may be appreciated, it will be well at this juncture to introduce some information about the Yemen, which land ultimately became also the strong­hold of the Zaidi faith.

THE YEMEN AND HADHRAMAUT These two territories which were formerly very difficult

to penetrate by would-be explorers, have latterly received almost a spate of intrepid travellers who have been per­mitted to enter there for one purpose or another. Several of these have recorded their experiences, and recounted what they have observed in these formerly closed lands. From them we glean not only what has already been mentioned here, that almost the entire population of both countries are of the Moslem sect of the Zaidites, but also that these coffee-producing lands have vast areas laid out in terraces under cultivation of not only coffee but spices and other products.

The capital of the Yemen is San'a and it is here that these adherents of the sect of Zaid may be best observed practising their religious devotions. The Zaidites pray only three times a day, unlike the orthodox Mohamme­dans, who pray five times. The evening prayer seems to be observed more particularly than on the other oc­casions, and is rarely missed, though they may miss the observances of one or the other of the morning or noon prayers.

In the country from the coast to San'a and along the various routes leading from it may be seen the above-mentioned terraces ascending the slopes, going upwards for three thousand feet or more. These terraces vary in extent and depth according to the terrain, and are carefully formed so as to obtain the best advantage from the ground. The lay-out of the terraces and the irrigation systems were manifestly the outcome of great and un­remitting toil. They are to be seen everywhere under heavy cultivation.

This terraced cultivation is not confined to the area just described but is also to be seen to an even greater extent

25

in the country around Manakha, on the slopes of the Jebel Harraz. Here the terracing between the mountains gives the appearance of vast amphitheatres, with the terraces rising up many hundreds of feet, and with their containing walls getting higher and higher towards the summit and rising from three feet to as high as nine feet.

The terraces thus formed being of various widths, some very narrow, are irrigated by a marvellous and cunning system of water channels, which are formed by making skillful use of the natural slopes.

The stone employed in building the retaining walls, as well as the vast quantities of earth which had to be carried up the slopes to form these terraced fields represents such a degree of labour as almost to stagger the imagination. These terraces and manner of their formation and the degree of care required for their main­tenance, reminds one, as we have seen, of the Inyanga terracing in Rhodesia, where terraces of a similar nature, and requiring great skill for the irrigation employed, in­dicates that only a people skilled in the knowledge of the construction of terraces and of how best to utilise the slopes and contours of the Inyanga hills for the clever irrigation system which was employed there, would be able to accomplish such a tremendous task. Consequently, in contemplation of this fact alone, there is an indication, when other things are taken into account, too, that Inyanga was the product of these same Yeme­nites—the followers of Zaid, who, at the commencement of the Mohammedan era. following on their conversion to Islam, when persecution was intense against them, had fled from "fortunate Arabia", to commence their mode of life again in East Africa.

It is believed by experts such as Mr. Roger Summers, that the slopes of Inyanga must have produced tremend­ous harvests over that vast terraced area. What crops did they produce? It is difficult to answer this question but one can surmise that the cultivation of crops such as were raised in the Yemen and Hadhramaut would be the case. Thus, it would not be at all surprising, if we had the means of discovering the answer to the above question, to learn that not only sweet-smelling shrubs

26

such as myrrh and frankincense, but also coffee, which even from the time of Mohammed, were grown in the Yemen, were produced also at Inyanga.

The coffee-tree is not believed to be indigenous to Yemen, for recent investigations seem to indicate that it was originally found in Ethiopia. Be that as it may, there need be no doubt concerning the ability to grow it also at Inyanga, for coffee is being produced in that region today.

Another similarity between the Yemen terraces and Inyanga is that in the Yemen, people who work on the terraces dwell on the hill-tops where many of the villages lend themselves to the thought that in earlier times they were fortified. In fact, the description given by some of the writers concerning these hilltop villages is reminiscent not only of the Inyanga fortifications, but also of the Acropolis at Zimbabwe.

Then too, photographs appearing in several of these books about the Yemen and Hadhramaut, show on the walls surrounding some of the houses of the wealthier citizens, designs similar to those on the wall of the Zi­mbabwe Elliptical Temple. Among the places photo-graphed, is Manakha, built on a cliff-like hill, with terraces of different sizes rising up the hillside. Then there is another photograph of a fortified village in the Jebel Harraz, and surrounding it and below are more terraces. This hill fortification is situated on a crag jutting out of the hill itself. Another photograph is of Hatib with its terraces and rock fortress. There is a photograph too, of Bajil in the Tahama, near the Red Sea. It shows a circular fortress with a conical tower similar to that in Zimbabwe's Elliptical Temple.

The thought may occur to some that the construction and cultivation of the artificial terraces of the Yemen and Hadhramaut is of later origin than the terracing at Inyanga. However, there is evidence of the existence of terracing and irrigation, at least in the Yemen, dating back to the time of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (950 B.C.). According to some writers, this land had, at a very early date, reached its cultural peak, as evidenced

27

by the large and well preserved dam still to be seen at Marib—the ancient Sabean capital.

It is stated concerning the Queen of Sheba, who was known as Balkis, that she reigned not only over the Yemen but also over Ethiopia, which had become part of her father's kindom, the Ethiopians having submitted to him in recognition of his services in saving their country from devastation because of the yearly flooding of the rivers, with the resultant loss of life both to men and animals. The Sabean skill in terracing and irrigation enabled them to save the land from this destruction, and they were able to make use of the rivers for the benefit of the country.

When the Ethiopians rebelled against the Queen of Sheba-Balkis, she proceeded to destroy the irrigation system her father had created for them, until they, who lacked the skill of her own people, decided to yield submission to her also.

It is not to be supposed that terracing and cultivation with irrigation systems were confined to the Queen of Sheba's time, for we are told by Hitti in his book "History of the Arabs", that Pliny also makes reference to agricul­ture, in this territory, and his references are abundantly confirmed by the wells, dams and cisterns repeatedly mentioned in the inscriptions.

Although the Hadhramaut was not ruled over by the Queen of Sheba, it came eventually under the control of the Yemen during the reign of the Himyarite kings. It was also invaded by Yemenite tribes at the com­mencement of the Mohammedan era. The tribe of the Kathiri from San'a was one of these, and it is interesting to note that the capital of their territory in the Hadhra­maut was called Saiyun. which may be a corruption of the name San'a. Both these names are variously spelled by the different authors writing about them, and this appears, too, to be the case on the various maps on which these towns are marked. It needs not be thought strange, then, to read this name again as the name of the capital of the territory of their compatriots on the Zambesi, for Sena was formerly Seyuna, according to Arab writers.

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The peoples of the Yemen and Hadhramaut from very early times, were accustomed to sail their dhows down the east coast of Africa, they having learned how to use the monsoon trade winds to their advantage, both when departing from their countries and on their return voyages.

A COMPARISON BETWEEN YEMEN AND INYANGA TERRACES.

Here is an interesting comparison given by Prof. A. H. Keane in his introduction to Hall's "Great Zimbabwe"

"The South Arabian terraces were visited by Genera! E. J. Haig in the eighties. So close is the parallelism between Haig's description of the South Arabian terraces and that of Mr. Telford Edwards on Inyanga terraces that they might almost change places".

Terraced Slopes (South Arabia) by Haig: "In one district the whole mountain side, for a height

of 6,000 ft., was terraced from top to bottom, Everywhere, above, below and all round endless flights of terraced walls meet the eye. One can hardly realise the enormous amount of labour, toil and perseverance which these represent. The terraced walls are usually from four to five feet in height, but towards the top of the moun-tain they were sometimes as much as 15 or 18 ft. They are built entirely of rough stone laid without mortar. I reckoned on an average that each wall retains a terrace not more than twice its own height in width, and I do not think I saw a single broach in one of them unrepaired. (Haig Proceedings of Geographical Society, 1887).

Terraced Slopes. (Inyanga) by Mr, Telford Edwards, "The extent of these ancient terraces is astonishing, and

there is every evidence of the past existence of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. It would be quite impossible to convey any idea of the immensity of labour implied in the enormous number of these ancient terraces. I saw at least 150 square miles composed of kopjes from 100 to 400 ft, in height, literally strewn with ruins. A con­templation of the enormous tonnage of stones and earth rudely built into these terraces left me amazed. It appears to be abundantly clear that the terraces were for the

29

purpose of cultivating cereals of some sort. The terraces as a rule rise up in vertical lifts of about two to three feet. The terraces are all made very flat and of dry mansonry, not of hewn stone."

Evidently the above parallelism must have been so con­vincing to Mr. Hall, that he abandoned the idea of an ancient origin for them such as he postulated for Zi­mbabwe, for after his visit to Inyanga in 1904 he found —"that the terraced slopes, the so-called "slave pits," and the other remains, although "old" are not "ancient". That is to say, that they date, not from Himyarite times, but probably from the eleventh or twelth century of the new era, when parts of Rhodesia were reoccupied by large numbers of Aloslem Arabs... Hence, although the terraced slopes still form a connecting link between South Africa (Inyanga) and South Arabia,—the South Arabia here in question is that, not of pre—but of post—Koranic times."

Summing up now concerning the Yemen and Hadhra-maut, we see that:-1). The inhabitants of both these territories are in the main adherents of the sect of Zaid. In fact these lands may be described as being the strong-hold of the sect. 2). Many of the adherents of this sect fled to the east coast of Africa, at the beginning of the Mohammedan era, when persecution broke out against them. In the various places, where, according to tradition they founded settlements such as Shungwaya (Port Durnford) there are to be found terraces, and Arab pottery similar to that found at Inyanga. 3). Of all the Arab peoples, only those of the Yemen and Hadhramaut appear to have developed to any degree the knowledge of terracing, as well as the skilful art of irrigating, and this knowledge has been inherited and passed down through generations from before the Chris­tian era. 4). As it would appear that only Bushmen and Hottentots were in the land we now know as Rhodesia at the time when Inyanga was terraced and fortified, it seems all the more certain that this skillful work was not the pro­duction of their inventiveness, but could only have been

30

directed by a people such as the Emozaid, who brought the art with them from their Arabian homelands. 5). The hilltop fortifications of the Yemen and Hadhra-maut strongly suggest that the Inyanga and Zimbabwe fortifications were inspired by this pattern. 6). The existence in the Yemen and Hadhramaut of stone walling with a similar decorative pattern to that of Zimbabwe, as well as enclosed conical towers like the one in Great Zimbabwe, strongly suggests that the various Zimbabwes were built by these Yemenite Arabs who fled there from their former countries.

THE FOLLOWERS OF ZAID AND OTHER MOHAM­MEDAN SECTS.

Although many references have been made in the foregoing pages to the sect of Zaid, it may be well at this juncture to give some information concerning the other Mohammedan sects, most of which were opposed to the Zaidites. First of all then, it is necessary to ex-plain the Zaidites were an offshoot of the Shiia. Accord-ing to Hitti, this latter sect, is one which next to the orthodox Sunnites has perhaps the largest number of adherents, numbering as it does some fifty million. The Shiites constituted one of the two hostile camps which came into being at an early period in the history of Islam, during the latter part of the seventh century. They were the upholders of the Imamship as opposed to the Caliphate, and their belief that Ali's sons are the true Imams is one of the main factors differentiating them from the orthodox Sunnites. While there are many Shiite sects, that of the Zaidis of the Yemen is the largest and is the one coming closest to the orthodox. The Zaidis, according to Hitti, "differ from other Shiite groups also in that they believe in no hidden Imam, practise no temporary marriage, and allow no dissimula­tion. But they share all other Shiite groups hostility to Sufism.

The term Sufi appears first in Arab literature in the middle of the ninth century applied to a certain class of ascetics... The exponent of Sufi philosophy died at Gizeh in 860 A.D.

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Another Mohammedan division is the Shafite school, which was founded by Muhammad ibn-Idris al-Shafi, who was born in Ghazzah in 767. They claimed to have found the golden mean by accepting speculation with certain reservations. The Shafii rite still dominates Lower Egypt, Eastern Africa, Palestine etc".

PRE-MUSLIM ARAB BELIEFS. The Arabs before the Mohammedan era appear to

have had a vague belief in Allah, while at the same time having regard for pagan deities, such as Nasr—the vul­ture, and Awf—the great bird. They also venerated certain animals which suggest the origin of toteeism amongst certain East African Tribes, though this may be open to question.

They also had associations with underground deities. The regard of these pagan Arabs for the Vulture, in common with the ancient Egyptians is a strong indication of the origin of the Zimbabwe bird, as has been pointed out also by Boscawen, who is quoted by J. T. Bent in "The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland" as follows:-

"A curious parallel and possible explanation of the birds found in Mashonaland over the works at Zimbabwe seem to me to be afforded by the study of the mines and quarries of the ancient Egyptians... In the Wady Magharah, the mines of which were worked for copper and turquoise by the ancient Egyptians. . . the figure of the hawk is found sculptured upon the rocks as the special emblem of the god of the mines. . . It must be remembered that the region of Sinai was especially sacred to the godess Hathor. She is associated with the sparrow-hawk Supt—the lord of the East. This associat-tion with Sinai and also Arabia and Punt which is attached to the godess Hathor, and her connection with the mines of Egypt, seems to be most important in con­nection with the emblem of the hawk in the mines at Zimbabwe.

According to the oldest traditions of the Egyptians there was a close connection between Hathor.. . and Arabia . . . embracing the coasts of Yemen and Hadhra-maut"

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We also find a similarity, too, between these pre-Mus-lim Arab beliefs and the cult of Mwari (in Rhodesia) as revealed by Bullock and Summers. The latter says that "the cult of Mwari was a local monotheistic religion associated with high places, with wind, and with oracles in caves. In many ways it has Semitic connections".

It may be suspected that, as with some of the early Christians, many of the Zaidi Arabs were not too well grounded in their monotheistic religion—which in the beginning was a new faith, with, no doubt, many things not well understood, so they may well have brought with them beliefs originating from their pre-Muslim superstitions. In confirmation of this surmise, the En­cyclopaedia Britannica tells us under the heading "Islam", that both the Sunnites and Shiites, had incorporated in their beliefs and practises, many pre-Islamic customs which were too deeply rooted in the lives of men to be abolished. These heathen practises the Sunnites call "Ijma" i.e. the universal consent which is held to justify practises or beliefs although they are not warranted by the Koran or tradition, and may be inconsistent with the apparent teaching of one or both of these.

EAST AFRICAN ARAB SETTLEMENTS. It is an undoubted fact that from earliest times Arabs

for one reason or another have been making their way to East Africa, and that Arabs from the Yemen and Hadhramaut have constituted the greater number of these settlers. It will be remembered too, that the sect of Zaid ultimately held sway in these original homelands and consequently, their cult must have exercised a trem­endous influence wherever they were among their coun­trymen on the East Africa coast.

One Arab writer, Dimashqui, who died in 1327, stated, as already quoted, that even the Island of Kambalou, or Madagascar, in his day had a negro Mohammedan popu­lation of the Zaidite and Shafiite sects.

Not only amongst the "negros" (Bantu) of the coast but also among the pro-Mohammedan Arab population must the Zaidis have won many converts to the Moham­medan faith, which meant of course to the sect of the

33

Zaidis. Fanatical bitterness existed between these dif-ferent Moslem sects, and this has manifested itself in even the account given of the progress of the Zaidis down the East African coast—"as a slow plague" they came, winning over to their faith the Arabs already set­tled there.

It is difficult to believe as is suggested by some writers, that the pre-Muslim Arabs, settled, as they were, on the coast for centuries, never ventured into the interior in search of more riches, or indulged in inland projects to widen the scope of their trade. The existence, for inst­ance, of terraces in Kenya, could more easily be ac­counted for as being of Arab origin, than by believing that they owe their existence to the Bantu, or even the Ba-Swahili—the Arabised Bantu—on their own initiative, or through their own inventiveness

QUOTATIONS FROM EARLY WRITINGS ABOUT EAST AFRICA.

Agathudes of Alexandria wrote around the year 150 B.C., concerning the degree of commerce between South­ern Arabia and East Africa as follows—"No nations in the world were so wealthy as the Gerrhaens and Sabaens, for they were placed in the centre of all the commerce which passes between Asia and Africa".

The country of the Sabaeans was, of course, the Yemen, and Marib was then the capital. It is evident from the above statement that their trade with Africa, even at that early date, was productive of great wealth. How far south their trading ventures extended is not revealed. Another writing—the Periplus, records that in exchange for the goods brought from Southern Asia, were ivory, palm oil, rhinoceros horn, tortoise-shell, cinnamon, frank-insense and slaves.

Further and fuller information concerning trade with East Africa at an early date is obtained from the above mentioned work called "The Periplus" written in the latter half of the first century AD, The unknown writer, believed to have been one of those engaged in the East African trade himself tells us that the method of trade

34

waa by barter, for he writes that the ships "exchange their cargoes while sailing along the coast".

Commenting on the country itself, he informs us that "it is not subject to a king but each market town is ruled over by a separate chief". One can only indulge in specu­lation as to what people were the coastal inhabitants at that time. His statement about them not having a king is interesting, in that it calls to mind the description given by the Portuguese writers of some of the people, the "Mongazes", who were in conflict with their Monomo-tapa. They commented on the fact that each Mongaz African village or town appeared to be under independant chiefs called "Fumus". While this is too slender evidence to base a theory on, the temptation is to believe that these people were the ancestors of the Sotho people al­ready in possession of at least the northern part of the east coast at that time.

It appears further from the Periplus account that while these chiefs were independant of one another, some were "subject to the Himyarite princes of Southern Arabia."

The Himyarite rulers followed the Sabaeans as the dominant people of Southern Arabia. How they came to get the dominion over these coastal chiefs is not stated, though another statement in the Periplus says that by some ancient rite the coast became subject to the domi­nant state in Arabia. One wonders, if the translation we are using is correct, what the rite could have been that would have caused these chiefs to subject themselves; no doubt, Southern Arabia, as we have seen, had long exercised an ever-increasing influence on the coast, and as the Periplus tells us in another passage—"the coast was visited by many large ships, using Arab captains and agents who are familiar with the natives and intermarry with them, and who know the whole coast, and under­stand the language." By these means, therefore, a popu­lation was built up which would recognise its allegiance to the rulers of Southern Arabia.

This mixed Arab population would recognise the value of increasing trade, and indeed, the Periplus tells us that

35

"they import tools and weapons of iron that are made at Muza on the Red Sea coast."

Who the original unmixed inhabitants of that period were we have no means of knowing. They certainly were not Bushmen, for the Periplus speaks of them as "men of piratical habits, very great in stature, and under separ­ate chiefs in each place." Now the Arabs themselves as a general rule, could not be described as "men of very great stature", as in all probability the author of Periplus was himself an Arab, though some surmise he was an Egyptian Greek, he saw in these in habitants of the coast, a people greater in stature than the people of his own nation. They may have been Hottentots, but were more likely to have been a Nilotic people akin to the Masai, who are noted for their great stature.

The Himyarite dynasty mentioned above as following on the Sabaeans to whom they were related, commenced in 115 B.C. and continued for a period of 600 years, until the Himyarites were overthrown by the Abyssinians. The Kingdom of Axum then held sway on the coast for a time; then the Persians also, for a short period, exercised a control over Southern Arabia.

Though nothing much is recorded of activities on the east African coast, following on the Himyarite period, it may be surmised that the Axumite kingdom must have exercised some influence southward beyond its own bord­ers. There is some suggestion, too, of Persian activity on the coast. In the main, however, enterprise in pushing trade further and further down the coast was the work of the Arabs throughout the centuries right up to the Mohammedan era. There is evidence, though somewhat slender, that Arabs had penetrated as far southward as Madagascar as early as the fourth century A.D. The important point to recognise in all this is, that the people who in the main for many centuries had been active on the east African coast were Arabs of Southern Arabia where the later territories of Yemen and Hadhra-maut are situated. Thus as we come to the Mohammedan era, with the period of intense persecution against not only the followers of Suleiman and Said from Oman, but

36

also against the sect of Zaid, which forced them to leave their homelands and seek new homes on the east African coast—both parties of refugees would find themselves amongst their own kinsmen, who had for generations been building up their settlements down the coast.

Concerning this period between the commencement of the Mohammedan era. and the ninth century, information is somewhat scanty. However, the Kitab al Zunij quoted already, shows the continuation of the struggle on the part of these religious refugees against the encroachment of the Caliphate. It has already been mentioned that Syrian adherents of the Caliphate were sent to settle on the coast in 696, which fact is mentioned not only in the Kitab al Zinij but also in the Chronicles of Lamu and Pate. Then almost a century later, the Caliphate organised an expedition to force the coast into subjec­tion. These efforts served, no doubt, to drive the ad­herents of the Zaidi cult into the interior, though they may have penetrated there already in search of the wealth of "the land of gold".

It is not till Masoudi's time, however, that we get some definite information about this penetration into the interior.

This Arab traveller and author, who writes in 947 A.D. gives us invaluable information concerning not only the Arab settlers, but also concerning the southward pro­gress of the Bantu, who had already in his day made their appearance south of the Zambesi, and had even then penetrated as far south as Sofala.

The description of the Bantu, who are referred to as the Zanj, whom he says were black men with hanging lips, indicated further a people with characteristics similar to what may be found even today. They were orators, Masoudi tells us, and undoubtedly their "witch­doctors or prophets" harangued their people with as great volubility as they manifest at the present time. Fear of their ancestral spirits also played as important part

then as now, and would require to be placated in similar fashion.

Masoudi's description of these Bantu indicates that they acknowledged a Supreme Being, for whom they had

37

two different names, one of which is very similar to a present-day Bantu name for God, and which was, accord­ing to Masoudi's spelling of it—Maklandjalou. The other name for God has already been referred to earlier on in this work and does not appear to be of Bantu origin. Concerning their religion, Masoudi informs us that "they had no settled kind of worship, but everyone worships what he pleases, a plant, an animal, a metal". They were obviously devoted to tribal totems, as with many Bantu tribes of the present time. These Zanj had some know­ledge of metal working. They hunted elephants for the ivory, but made no use of the ivory for their own needs.

Masoudi tells us further that the Zanj elected a king whom they called Waqlimi, meaning—"Son of the Sup­reme Lord". "This name was that of their kings from time immemorial, and he commands all the other kings of the Zanj," If the Waqlimi ceased to govern justly, then he was slain, and his descendants were not allowed to inherit the kingship. Now, as we have already noticed this name Waqlimi, and as further reference is to be made later, we will proceed to the next Arab writer.

Idrisi was an Arab writer and geographer, who lived between 1100 and 1166 A.D. Idrisi gives us some useful information about coastal towns as well as some in the interior. He describes Malindi as being a large town of the Zanj, and tells us that from Malindi it was a six days journey, 150 miles by sea, to el-Banes. This town was large and well-peopled. The inhabitants worship a one sided drum called errahim, which could be heard at a distance of three miles. El-Banes was the last dependancy of the Zanj. It adjoined Sofala—"the land of gold."

Before proceeding with Idrisi's account it should be pointed out that the town Malindi mentioned here cannot possibly be the present Malindi, to the north of Mombasa, but is more likely to have been the ancient name for present-day Lindi, which would fit better into the picture, for el-Banes situated only 150 miles south of Malindi, north of Mombasa, could not be described as adjoining Sofala—"the land of gold", neither could an el-Banes

38

situated in that region be described as the last depen­dency of the Zanj, seeing the Zanj had already in Masoudi's time reached as far south as Sofala itself.

Idrisi tells us that the Land of Sofala which he refers to as "the land of Gold" had "two market towns called Djentama and Dendema... Another town of moderate size was Siouna, peopled with Indians and Zanjs and others."

Idrisi does not tell us who these others were, but we can surmise that these others were the hated Emozaid. He tells us, however, that it is here that the Emir, or governor of the territory resided with his soldiers. It will be noted that he does not speak of Siouna as a town of the Zanj, as he did when referring to certain other towns, but that it was peopled with Indians and Zanjs and others. This would be an ertraordinary mode of expressing it if the town were in fact a town of the Zanj, where the Waqlimi resided. Siouna was very likely the centre of the gold trade for the Emozaid, who had, we may believe, control of the goldfields.

Sofala, the port, very likely was by now controlled by the Arabs of a different sect, who would of course be in opposition to the Emozaid.

Idrisi tells us something of the distances between the various towns in the "land of gold." He says that "from Siouna to Boukha was three days journey; from Boukha to Dendema, which was to the west of Sofala was three days by water, twenty by land. From Boukha to Djentama was one day by water, four by land,"

Concerning the inhabitants he informs us that they were poor and miserable. He says, too, that the great production of Sofala was iron, and that the inhabitants of the off-lying islands conveyed it to Arabia and India.

This latter statement is a further indication that Sofala was denied the trade in gold, and that their trade in iron being in the hands of the inhabitants of the off-lying Islands would indicate that Sofala had already come under the control of the Kilwa Arabs.

The next Arab writer, who has already been quoted earlier, was Dimashqui, who was born in 1256 and died

39

in 1327. He it was who wrote that "the island of Qua-mbalou (Madagascar). . .had a negro Mohammedan popu­lation of the Zaidite and Shafiite sects." He tells us further that the Zanj "were divided into two tribes—the Qabliet and the Kendjewait. the first signifies "ants" and the second "dogs". Most of the inhabitants went about naked and were ferocious in character. The sup­reme chief was called Touklim, which meant "son of the Lord".

Dimashqui's above description of the Zanj inhabitants of the land is not over complimentary. His mention of two distinct tribes among them, one of which—the Qabliet, signified ants, reminds us that the name of one of the towns of the Ba-Tonga as given by Tracey, signified "black ants". It does not seem possible, however, that the Ba-Tonga could have penetrated into the territory as early as Dimashqui's time. It is more likely that the two tribes he mentions indicated rather a division amongst the proto-Sotho themselves, especially in view of the fact that no change had taken place in the king-ship from the days of Masoudi, for the supreme ruler is the "Touklim", which name as explained elsewhere, may be interpreted through the medium of Sesotho as meaning "the Lion of Elohim". It will be noticed that Dimashqui does not add the vowel ending as do the other writers, but leaves it, we may conjecture, as it was originally.

It may be stated here concerning the aforementioned division into two tribes of the first Sotho—Zanjs, that the first tribal divisions of the Ba-Sotho to reach South Africa were the Ngoya and the Fokeng.

Another Arab geographer of the period was Abu-al-Fida (1273-1331) who wrote that at Mombasa lived the paramount Sheik of the Zanj. By this he meant no doubt, that the supreme Arab authority over the coast resided there. Other Arab writers quoted have stated that the Waqlimi was the supreme ruler of the Zanj, and that his place of residence was somewhere in the "Land of Gold." The paramount Sheik of the Arabs was undoubt­edly that of the Arabs in opposition to the Emozaid.

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Abu-al-Fida quoted another Arab writer—Ibn Zaid, to the effect that the land of Zanj was separated from that of Sofala by a desert. This desert was on the eastern side of a great river up which Arab ships sailed for a distance of 300 miles. This river was without doubt, the Zambesi.

The capital of the territory was stated on Ibn Zaid's authority to be Seyouna (Sena). He also mentions another town on the river named Leyrana. The main occupation of the territory, he said, was the extraction of gold and iron.

The next Arab writer was Ibn Battutah who wrote somewhere around the year 1350. He wrote that he had heard from a merchant of Kilwa that "to Sofala was brought gold dust from Yufi, in the country of the Limis, a month's journey distant from the port, Yufi was one of the largest negro towns, and its ruler exercis­ed the widest power. It could never be visited by white men, for they would be killed long before they could approach the town."

From Ibn Battutah's statement we may conclude that Yufi was the place of residence of the "Touklim" in view of the fact that he says its ruler exercised the widest power.

A month's journey from Sofala would be an approxi­mate of the time required for the journey from Sofala to Mazofe, for the Portuguese writer d'Alcacova estimated that a journey to this region would also take just a few days under a month. Yufi was, we may believe, an Arab guess at the writing of the name Mozofe, which would be Zofe without the "ma" prefix, and have a sound very similar to Yufi.

Since it was an Arab from Kilwa who gave the in­formation to Ibn Battutah, we have a clear indication therefrom, that he belonged to those Arabs who were in opposition to the Emozaid, and undoubtedly any at­tempt on their part to enter the territory governed by the Ameer of the Emozaid from Seyouna i.e. Sena, would have resulted in death. The term "white men" is not

41

to be taken as meaning Europeans, but full-blooded Arabs who would thus distinguish themselves from the Emozaid, who were no doubt already of mixed blood.

It will be noted that the people of the Waqlimi are referred to by Ibn Battutah as "Limis". This is not to say that the tribal name of these Bantu was really "Limis", but was the name he applied to them derived from the name of their ruler Waqlimi or, as later — "Touklim." It is possible, too, that by this time their name for God had been shortened from Elohimi to Mu-limu, and Mudimi or Mudimo.

It cannot be emphasised too strongly that as yet up to Ibn Battutah's time there is no mention of the appearance of the Ba-Kalanga on the scene. The evidence from these Arab records all points to the fact that only one Bantu people had as yet penetrated into "The Land of Gold" and as far as Sofala. This in not only in accordance with these Arab writings, but with the findings of archaeology, and as established, too, by the C.14 test.

That there was no direct mention of the Emozaid Arabs during this period, or of their occupancy of the "Land of Gold", need not be a cause for astonishment, if we consider the attitude of the Arabs of the other Moham-medan sects towards them. Ibn Haukal even refused to write anything about the peoples of the other nations who were not Mohammedans as not wishing to glorify them by even making mention of them—much less then would it be expected that the heretical sect of the Zaidis would find recognition, beyond the gibing reference to their progress down the coast as being "like a slow plague."

Nevertheless, proofs of the existence of a people who could only have been the Emozaid, have so multiplied in the "Land of Gold", as to force themselves on the attention of a variety of writers. Hall, for instance in "Prehistoric Rhodesia" mentions that monoliths erected as at Zimbabwe were a feature of Arabian temples. He adds that the Zaide Arabs from Arabia settled on the east African coast and into the interior, becoming eventually through mixture of blood, incorporated with

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the natives, till, as he wrote, "they became hardly dis­tinguishable from the Kafirs". He also notices at the same time the Ba-Lemba whom he calls Ma-Lembo, and to whom he refers as "the Mountaineers." He mentions too, the Karanga tradition of the Njila-ya-Basungo, the "road of the white people" which led from Sena to Masa-pa on the Mazoe. This was evidently the road of these Arabs—the Emozaid, to and from that gold producing area. The reference to the Ba-Lemba as "Mountaineers", may be derived from "Domboshaba" which may be inter­preted as "The Hill Fort of Trade". Places named Do-mboshaba are numerous, and occur often near where Ba-Lemba are still to be found, or near ancient mines.

There are many references by other writers connecting the Ba-Lemba with the mysterious "white people" of the Land of Gold, Now, the Arabs, as has been shown, also referred to themselves as white men, and undoubted­ly would be so regarded by the Bantu.

The main connecting link between the Ba-Lemba and the Emozaid, is one which the writer has verified. It is a fact that the Ba-Lemba to this day venerate the name Zaid, or Sayid as the name is spelled by Bullock. Stewart, an early writer of the last century, writes about the Ba-Lemba in his book "The Ancient Gold Fields of Africa" - "The natives state the gold was work­ed and the forts built by the white men that once oc­cupied this country, whom they call Aberlomba ("men who made everything"), and there is every appearance that it is so, for I am quite of the opinion that no African race of these parts ever built these strongholds, or took the trouble to make such extensive excavations in the earth as we find all over the country... no doubt the stories told by the first Portuguese adventurers were those still repeated by the natives of "a white people with long black hair who came to this country, long before the Portuguese, to dig for gold".

Stewart also quotes from Anderson's "Twenty-five years in a Wagon", as follows—"the whole region down to the Zambesi is gold-bearing, but what seems remarkable, no instrument or anything has been found to lead to the time

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when this part of the Mashona country was overrun by the Queen of Sheba's people, but subsequently by a white race... It is very clear there must have been a different race from the present that worked the ground for gold in these parts, several hundred years ago; from the ruins now standing, I think they may have been the same under the name "Abbalomba". . . Besides the gold mines in other districts. .. there are other indications of a civilised people in remote t imes. . . they were evidently a separate people from those who now occupy the country. May not an Arab tribe have passed down along the east coast and established themselves in the Mashona region and formed a kingdom. None of the African races... south of the Zambesi, except they are of Arab blood are closely connected with that race. There is at present that t r ibe. . . that are termed white, may not this rem­nant be descendants... of those whites the Mashona call "Abbalomba"....

Bullock, in his book "The Mashona and the Matabele" says "It is possible that the Wa Remba (Lemba) had Arabian forefathers. It may be that they were the "Moors" whom the Portuguese Chroniclers found living near Sofala, and we know that a man of another tribe once addressed a Mu Remba as "Mulungu", which signi­fies a Superior Being, and once had that implication in one of our own designations" (i.e. Mulungu. meaning "White man").

Bullock's reference to the Portuguese Chroniclers re­minds us once more that George McCall Theal in his "History of South Africa before 1795" relying no doubt on information gleaned from the said Chroniclers, in­forms us of conditions at Sofala at the time of its oc­cupation by the Portuguese.

He says that the Arabs there were of mixed blood, and just as there were feuds between nearly all the Mohammedan settlements... so it was at Sofala. Theal tells us, as stated earlier, of the two Arab parties at Sofala, one under the leadership of Mengo Musafi, a son-in-law of Isuf (Sheik of Sofala). The other Arab party was under the leadership of a man named Acote, an

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Abyssynian, who it would appear was made Sheik of the Emozaidi, he was of course of that sect" (the sect of Zaid").

THE BA-LEMBA—THE EMOZAID. Remembering that the Emozaid were forced into the

interior at an early date, and were looked upon as a distinct tribe - the "Umma-Zaidij"- according to the Arab Chroniclers, and knowing that the Emozaid were numer-ous in Sofala, and even in Madagascar from a very early date, it seems fairly conclusive that the Ba-Lemba and the Emozaid were one and the same people. The name Ba-Lemba is one which has obviously undergone many changes, but was at one time, if we are to accept the spelling of the name by one of the earlier writers to contact them—known as the "Abbalomba"—a word which could easily be the Bantu attempt at describing this people as Arabs—the change being from "Aba Arab" to "Abalaba" as per Bantu usage, then to Aba-Lomba. and then in course of time the "em" introduced for euphony made it "AbaLemba". It is interesting to note that in the Katanga Province of the Congo Republic—the Congo River is know as the Lualaba—the River of the Arabs— "Lui", in the Luban language being the word for river, then "Alaba" the corruption for "Arabs". Even there, there is a tendency on the part of the Bantu to introduce a faint "m" giving almost the sound of Lualamba.

Many parallels could be found between customs amongst the Ba-Lemba and areas such as the Katanga where Arabs for a long time held sway, such as, for instance, the Lemba term, akin to contempt for anyone from another race—that of "Musendji," plural "Ba-Sendji" derived from their attitude as Arabs and Mohammedans towards the heathen "Zenj". This expression was bor­rowed by the Katanga peoples who had come under Arab influence, and who proceeded to use this term to any whom they wished to treat with the utmost degree of contempt.

Europeans in the Congo were quick, too, to adopt this word to their own use, when speaking of uncivilised Africans. The popular breed of dogs known as Basenji

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dogs owes its name to this attitude as well, for in the beginning, the native dogs which might adequately be described as "dumb dogs that cannot bark" were so called "Basenji dogs" by the Europeans in contempt for these dogs, as pertaining to the natives—until some enterprising individual was inspired to introduce them to Europe as a new breed of dog that didn't bark known as the "Basendji breed".

Then there are the famous Katanga copper crosses, though more like a mishapen "H" than a cross, which were formerly used as money, and as the bride-price for a wife. These were also found in Mashonaland— where the Ba-Lemba were recognised, as also in Venda-land—as the coppersmiths par excellence. These crosses, as well as copper gongs are found, not only in Mashona-land, but also in parts of West Africa such as Nigeria where Arab influence was considerable in past centuries.

The description still repeated by the natives of what Stewart and Anderson believed to be applicable to the Ba-Lemba in past centuries, of a "white people with long black hair, who came to this country to dig for gold" is a tradition not only among the Mashona but also among the Ba-Tonga.

Another tradition held among the Bantu in the Masikesi area speaks of a people of brown complexion, who also had long hair, and who engaged in mining activities. Because of the mention of long black hair some writers have probably jumped to the conclusion that these people were Indians, having perhaps overlooked the fact that the Arabs in the Yemen are also to be seen with long hair to this day, as may be observed in photographs appearing in the American Geographical Magazine in an article on the Yemen,

Paver tells us in "Zimbabwe Cavalcade" that—"of the copper mines of Messina, the Ba-Venda have a tradition that pale-faced men with head-coverings directed the local mining operation". These ancient mine-workings, it might be added, are usally accredited to the Ba-Lemba. Paver also tells us of a tradition among the BaPedi of bearded people who wore "clouds on their heads".

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This we believe indicates the presence of Arabs, there at a very early time. The "clouds on their heads", were, of course, their head coverings.

Let us emphasise here once more that the Arabs for­merly referred to themselves as "white men", which fact, as already mentioned, seems clear from a reference in the writings of Ibn Battutah as quoted by Axelson. This Arab writer who wrote centuries before Europeans appeared there, says "To Sofala was brought gold-dust from Yufi in the country of the Limi. Yufi could never be visited by white men, for they would be killed long before they could approach the town". Obviously, as stated earlier, this writer intended to refer to full-blooded Arabs like himself as "white-men", and we may surmise, as distinct from the Uma-Zaidis who were already show-ing signs of the introduction of Bantu blood.

It is necessary perhaps, to point out here that the Limis were not the Ba-Lemba, but were the first wave of the Bantu, who were, we believe, the Ba-Sotho-Ghoya who were under the paternal government of the Ameer of the Emozaids, which people—the Emozaids—were afterwards to be known as Ba-Lemba.

WHO WERE THE LIMIS? This name is, as seems obvious, a corruption of the

name applied to the ruler of the people first spoken of by Masoudi as a "tribe of Abyssinians" who in his day had arrived in the Sofala area, whose king was known as Waqlimi. This name "was that of their kings from time immemorial. The Waqlimi commands all the other kings of the Zanj."

Another reference has already been quoted from Dima-shqui, who died in 1327, and who referred to the ruler of the Limis as "Touklim". Then comes this final re­ference by Ibn Battutah who refers to the country of the Limis. These Limis, as we may call them for the moment, had their kingdom first of all in the region of Sofala, with possibly their capital at or near Sena. Their kingdom expanded eventually till it became neces-sary, as we have seen earlier, for their capital to be at Yufi (Mazofe), in the Mashonaland gold-producing area.

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In each of these references, taken from Arab writings, and occuring after such lengthy intervals of time, that which may be termed as the root word in the names employed, is easily discernible—thus, in Waqlimi—"limi" is clearly seen. It may be also discerned in Touklim, then of course, the actual word "Limi" is used by Ibn Battutah. Finally, we may add that at this time the name Mulimo for God has persisted among the Ba-Sotho peoples, and here again it is obvious that the word "limi" is incorporated. Now, going back to the first notice of the name as encountered in Waqlimi, it should be remem-bered that Waqlimi is given as meaning "Son of the Great God", and that consequently the word for God is to be found in this name Waqlimi. Then again, according to Dismashqui, the word for God occurs also in the name Touklim, and it will be observed that though the first part of the name has changed from "Waq" to "Touk"— the "Limi" part still remains, and is obviously the part of the name which refers to God. This is also the case with the Sotho name for God—"Mulimo", where "Mu" is the prefix, and "Limi" is the actual name, though here the vowel ending of the name "Limi" has been changed to "o" or "u" to agree with the vowel in the prefix.

While the repetition of the above in such detail may seem tedious to the readers, nevertheless, in spite of that risk, it seems necessary that this matter should be so clear, that it should be easily recognisable, even as indicated by the Carbon 14 test, that only one Bantu tribe was in occupancy of the land from the days of Masoudi till some time after the days of Ibn Battutah. This Bantu people, it is generally agreed, was Proto-Sotho.

Now, since there is good reason, based on the result of the C.14 test, for believing that Zimbabwe was com­menced before the arrival of these Proto-Sotho Bantu it seems obvious that the Bantu could not be the originat­ors of Zimbabwe, though they and succeeding Bantu must later have constituted the labour force to do the actual work under the direction of the originators of

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the project. Thus, since very few people would care to subscribe to the thought that either the Hottentots or Bushmen were the originators, we must look elsewhere for them, and consequently it should be easily recog­nisable that only the Arab-Emozaid-Lemba fit into the picture. The afore-mentioned place, Yufi, we need have no hesitancy about identifying with Mazofe or Maofe of Fernandes—the Portuguese "degredado" who, to win his restoration, undertook his hazardous journey into the interior in 1515. Yufi was a month's journey from So-fala, according to Ibn Battutah. This same journey is calculated by d'Alcacova to be from 20 to 24 days to Mount Fura, which was not far distant from Mazofe or Yufi, which town was the gateway, as it were, to the gold-producing area. The corruption of Yufi to Mazofe continued and probably ended by this place becoming known eventually as Mazoe. The few additional days al­lowed by Ibn Battutah for the journey represents a slower rate of travel by the Arabs to that of the Portuguese.

Now, let us consider further the origin of this name Waqlimi, which eventually was shortened to Limi. Ma-soudi tells us that the name means "the son of the great God or Supreme Lord'', and the name for God occurring in this title persists as we have seen to this day as Mulimu, the name having taken on the "mu" prefix in the meantime, and the vowel ending having become changed to agree with the vowel in the prefix. Now Mulimu, is almost exclusively the name for God with all the Ba-Sotho peoples, so we may use Se-Sotho to in­terpret the name which originally must have been some­thing like "Morwa wa ka Limi". However, this name Limi for the Supreme God is not very satisfactory when we consider that these same Bantu people were stated by Masoudi to have another name for God in their lan­guage "Maklandjalou", which meant "Sovereign Master", according to Masoudi, though it sounds suspiciously like the Zulu word for God "Mkulunkulu". At any rate, this latter has more of the sound of a word in a Bantu language than Limi, which has the appearance of a word adopted into the language.

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We are helped in our consideration of the origin of the word by the statement made by a later Arab writer and geographer, Idrisi, who Iived between 1100 and 1166 A.D. He says that El Banes, a town which was the last dependancy southward of the Zanj, and which adjoined the "Land of Gold" (or as we know it, Rhodesia), was well peopled, and the inhabitants worshipped a one sided drum called "Errohim". Now, it doesn't require much perception to recognise this word as one of the Semitic names for God—the word "Elohim". It is used by the Hebrews for God and occurs very frequently as the word for God in the Old Testament It is also an Arab word for God and is used in a corrupt form by the Egyptians as "Allahi", and by the Somalis as "Ilahay", as we learn from the booklet "The Gospel in Many Tongues", issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. In its original form, in earlier centuries, it must have been very similar to the manner in which Idrisi writes it "Errahim". How-ever the "r" sound as recorded by Idrisi is probably how the word sounded to Arab ears, but was, more likely, as used by the Zanj, the original "Elohim".

This word can mean "gods", as well as having the meaning of the Supreme Being, These people of El Banes were, no doubt, one and the same people as those dwelling in the Kingdom of the Waqlimi, for this ruler, the Waqlimi, was stated to be the supreme ruler of the Zanj. With this knowledge, we can surmise that the title for the king, before suffering from the Arab attempt to write it was something like "Morwa ka Elohim", and was in course of time shortened down to Wa Ka Elohimi and eventually to Wa k'limi, and written down by Masoudi as Waqlimi.

By Dimashqui's time in 1327, as we have already noticed, the name had under-gone something of a further change, for this writer refers to it as "Touklim". However, by again using Se-Sotho for the purpose of interpreting, we can suggest that this word is a corruption of the title "Tau ka Elohim", i.e. "the Lion of the Great God", which to Dimashqui sounded like "Touklim". This change from "son of the Great God" to "Lion of the Great God"

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is an indication of the assumption of greater powers by these rulers than was accorded to them formerly. The title of "Lion" is one assumed by many African Chiefs. In this case, it may indicate, too, the emergence of a royal house or clan, which ultimately became the ruling clan and, as we may believe, is represented by the Lion Clan or sept of. the Nghoya, known today as the Ba-Taung, which clan name is preserved till now as the name of the place of one of the earlier Ghoya settlements—Taung, which is between Kimberley and Vryburg. The BaTaung moved on at a later date into Basutoland, where they are still to be found.

How these first Bantu to arrive in "the Land of Gold", came to adopt Elohim as their name for the Supreme God, we can only guess. Remembering that Masoudi speaks of them as coming from Abyssinia, there is very likelihood that they came in contact with an early settle­ment of pre-Muslim Arabs in that area; or perhaps, as they made their way south overland, they were associated with one of the original settlements of the followers of Zaid, from whom they borrowed the name of "Elohim" for the Supreme God. They were perhaps even induced by reports, coming to the Emozaid concerning the wealth of "the Land of Gold" (or Rhodesia, as we know it), to make their way down the coast to that territory, which up to that time was inhabited by Bushmen and Hotten­tots, dwelling there under the rule of the Emozaid Ameer.

As previously mentioned the various Arab writers, because of their extreme antagonism to what they regard­ed as the heretical sect of Zaid, would be most careful not to make mention of them beyond one of contempt. Even as Ibn Haukal declares, according to Paver,—"as far as the land of the Zinjians, Ethiopians and such tribes, I make but slight mention of them.. . how could I exalt them by inserting an account of their countries." So un­doubtedly, because of this attitude, we have scanty in-formation concerning the territory governed by the hated Emozaid. Idrisi, whom we have already quoted, stated that the town of Siouna (identified with Sena) was peopled with Indians, Zanjs and others. He leaves us

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to guess who the "others" were, but knowing the Arab attitude against the sect of Zaid we have no difficulty in concluding they were those in command of the territory. We have already learned from him that the governor (Ameer) of the territory resided at Sena with his soldiers.

THE LIMI PERIOD From the foregoing Arab accounts, it is easily discern-

able that the Waqlimi of the "Limis" dwelt in this territory from about the time of Masoudi in 946 A.D. till at least the time of Ibn Battutah in 1350. At this time (Circa 1300) the Limis were still in a strong position, judging by Ibn Battutah's statement that it was courting death for "White-men" (Arabs) to attempt to reach their capital of Yuf. Nevertheless, within the next hundred years a change was to take place, by the incoming of other Bantu tribes into the area, where for so Iong the "Limis" had evidently co-operated so well with their overlords—the Arab Emozaids. Both dates of the Limi period correspond remarkably well with the dates for Summers Zimbabwe Phase 11 period—he says that the radiocarbon tests "show that this period lasted from A.D. 1080 (plus or minus 150) to A.D. 1450 (plus or minus 150) and thus by subtracting 150 from the first date of 1048, we get A.D. 930, which would agree per­fectly with the time indicated by Masoudi for the coming of the Waqlimis. The other date 1450 A.D, seems to have been, according to various writers, about the time of the coming of the Batonga and Bakalanga into the kingdom. Their arrival couldn't have been later than 1450 A.D. but may have been earlier, though not much earlier, certainly not the full period of the 150 years allowed in the C.14 test—as this would bring the date to 1300 A.D., and Ibn Battutah wrote between 1325 to 1354 A.D. when at the time, he wrote, as already pointed out, the "Limis" were in possession, and were a force to be reckoned with.

COMING OF THE BAKALANGA. If we were to accept the Tonga tradition of their having

"ousted a yellowish complexioned race with long black 52

hair", then it would appear that the Ba-Tonga came first, and that they were able to overcome and drive out the Arab-Emozaid from some of their mountain strong­holds. Seemingly, the Tonga experienced little opposition from the "Limis", who having long enjoyed the peaceful occupation of the territory were not then prepared to cope successfully with these more warlike Bantu tribes. These Tongas occupied the areas on both sides of the Inyanga mountain range, and entered the former territory of the Wak-waks. The Tongas, by this wedge-shaped in­vasion, we may believe, paved the way for the Ba Kalanga.

PLACE AND ORIGIN OF BAKALANGA AND BA TONGA Where did the Batonga and BaKalanga originate from?

The answer seems quite clear from the writings of both Livingstone and Sir Richard Burton. The latter in his book "The Lake Regions of Central Africa" ap­pears to indicate clearly the area formerly occupied by them. He writes "The circuit of the Tanganyika con­cludes with the Wat'hongwe, called from their founder Wat'hongwe Kapana. In clear weather their long pro-montory is the furthermost point visible from Kawele in Ujiji, and their lands extend northward to Ukaranga (i.e. the country of the BaKaranga), and the Malagarazi river." Burton's peculiar spelling of the name of this other tribe he mentions, side by side with the Karanga, causes one to speculate as to whether by Wat'hongwe may not be meant BaTonga. Actually early maps of Rhodesia spell this name as Batongwa, i.e. Ba Tonga.

The invasion of the BaKalanga and BaTonga was probably prompted by the Kilwa Arabs or their other Arab allies on the coast, who no doubt, had long cast covetous eyes on the wealth coming from the "Land of Gold", but which was not readily available to them— most of the trade of the interior being as we believe in the hands of the Emozaids, who sold the gold and ivory to the Yemenites and to the Indians, who came as merchants and traders to Sena. It is within the bounds of possibility, therefore, that these other Arabs, having penetrated inland as far as Lake Tanganyika, prompted

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the Kalanga on the grounds of the promise of future assistance and friendship—to invade the territory in the wake of the Tongas. Be that as it may—this is seemingly what actually happened, and the Tongas, as well as the Limis of the area which was overrun, became the vassals of the BaKalanga, who were thus able to enlarge their wedge-shaped territory and extend it right down to Sofa-la, which, for a time at least became the outlet for the trade in gold and other products for these Kilwa Arabs, until the Portuguese came. Portuguese accounts of the "Monomotapan Empire" reveal that these Kilwa Arabs constituted a continuous and powerful threat to the Portu­guese interests in that area.

THE COMING OF THE PORTUGUESE. The first indication we get of the state of affairs

existing in the interior at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, is from the letter of Diogo d'Alcacova to the King of Portugal, written on the 20th November, 1506, from Sofala, to explain why all the Portuguese expectations of untold wealth coming to them from the interior were virtually dashed to the ground. Monomo-tapa's representatives at Sofala had, in true African style, told the first Portuguese arrivals of the greatness of their king, and the vastness of his "empire", and of its untold wealth. This story they told, no doubt, with the object of getting the support of the Portuguese to enable them to overcome the original possessors of the land, the Zaidis, with their Bantu allies—the people known to the Arabs as the "Limis", but whose tribal name was, as would appear, the "Ba-Ngoya", or alternatively Ba-Ngaia; who were as some writers in our day refer to them—a tribe of the proto-Sothos.

Some doubts have been expressed about the reliability of d'Alcacova's account, but allowing for his possible gullibility in accepting the statement of these Bantu allies of the Portuguese, (who, as the Portuguese records show—undoubtedly pretended to a tremendously vaster territory for their ruler Monomotapa, than he really possessed) can, we believe, be accepted as reasonably accurate. They also suggested to d'Alcacova, that the

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Ameer and his people, who were the original possessors of the land, were Monomotapa's rebel subjects.

These—the Emozaid—with their Bantu subjects—the Ghoyas, had, after the first shock of the invasion, found enough time to reorganise and were now vigorously resisting any further encroachment by Monomotapa on their territory.

It is possible, of course, that at the time of the in­vasion, as the Ameer and his people were being driven back, he, the Ameer, may have temporised by coming to some form of agreement with the Monomotapa, which may have given the latter grounds for looking on the Ameer as his vassal. Be that as it may—it obviously wasn't long before the Ameer was in a sufficient position of strength to defy Monomotapa. This Governor, or Ameer, of the ancient territory, who presumably still functioned from Sena, is rightly referred to in d'Alca-cova's account as the Ameer, or Emir, as the word is variously spelled—for it is the Arab title for "Governor", and the description of him as judge and councillor of the peoples under him, fits in well with the duties and functions of Arab Emirs and other Arab dignitaries ruling on the coast over their own Arab followers, and also over the native peoples allied to them.

However, as will appear from the account—it seems that d'AIcacova confused the king of the Ameer's Bantu allies, the Ngoya, with the Ameer himself. The title of their king, "Shangamire", is one which ftas persisted until recently, for Livingstone records encountering a chief bearing that title near Zumbo. Shangamire, if we have interpreted it correctly, means patron or protector of the Ameer, or more literally—"the father of the Ameer", and this mode of speech is after the manner adopted even today amongst Bantu peoples right up to the Congo, as indicating the "patron" of something of which they are proud, and which also through association, brings honour to themselves. For instance Sha-Bwanga in the Congo means the Patron of some kind of fetish; or again as amongst Bakalanga—Shamwari, means a pat-

55

ron of the Mwari cult. Then in the Congo, the Ba-Luba refer to God as Shakapanga i.e. Sha-ka-panga— "the Father of Creation."

D'ALCACOVA'S ACCOUNT. Here now is d'Alcacova's letter to the King of Portugal

as given in G. M. McCall Theal's book—"Records of South East Africa," Volume 1, though in somewhat ab­breviated form. It was written to the King of Portugal in 1505.

"It is well, Sir, that I should give you some account to your Highness of the affairs of Sofala, and of the gold that there is in it, and where it comes from, and why it does not come now.

The Kingdom, Sir, in which is the gold that comes to Sofala is called Vealanga, and the kingdom is very large,. . . and Sofala itself is in this kingdom... A man might go from Sofala to a city which is called Zumubany which is large and in which the king always resides—. .. and in the whole kingdom of Vealanga gold is extracted, and no man can take it out without leave from the king under penalty of death. And this king who now reigns, Sir, is the son of Mokomba, late king of the said king­dom, and he has the name Kwesaringa Menamotapam, which is like saying king so-and-so, because the title of the king is Menamotapam, and the kingdom Vealanga. Your Highness is already aware that for ten or thirteen years there has been war in the kingdom from which the gold came to Sofala: and the war, Sir, was in this way. In the time of Makomba Menomotapam, father of this Kwesaringa Menamotapan, he had a favourite who was a great lord in his kingdom, and who ruled the whole kingdom by exiling and beheading, and all other things that he willed like a king, who was called Tsha-nganijr, and was chief justice of the king, and the title of this justice was Ameer, just as we say Governor, and this Ameer had in the kingdom many towns and places which the king had given him. And the Ameer being in his territories, made himself great through the author­ity which he possessed in the kingdom, and thus he ac­quired many retainers; and other favourites of the king,

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beheading by justice... and this Ameer when the king sent him the poison that he should drink it, would not do so, and gave as a reply to the king, that he should send him to fight in war... because he would rather die fight-ing than thus with poison. Nevertheless the king com­manded that he should drink it, and the Ameer would not.. and when the Ameer saw that the king thus desired, he made up his mind to kill the king in the city where he was, which is called Zunhauhy; and he took with him many people; and when he arrived next the city, the grandees who were with the king knew that he was coming, they went to receive him, and when they saw him coming in that way they would not remain in the city and went out of it; and the Ameer went to the houses of the king, which were of stone and clay very large and of one story, and he entered where the king was with his slaves and some other men; and while speaking to the king the Ameer cut off his head; and as he killed through envy, began to tell the king that the Ameer wanted to raise himself to sovereign authority; that he should kill him, and to the king it seemed that it was so through the many people that he maintained; the king resolved to kill the Ameer, and sent to him by a nobleman a cup of poison that he should drink it, and because it was usual when the king wishes anyone to be killed, whether high or low, to send him poison to drink, and they drink it, and this is the equivalent of him he made himself king; and all obeyed him; and he reigned peacefully four years; and the king Makomba left twenty-two children; and the Ameer killed them all except only the eldest, who was still young, whose name was Kwe-karynugo, who is now king; and when he was twenty years old; he took possession of the kingdom with many people of his father, who came to Join him; and he marched against the Ameer who had killed his father, in a field close to the town. And when the Ameer saw that he was coming upon him he sent many people to fight him; and the son of the king killed many people of the Ameer; and when the Ameer saw that they killed so many people

he came out to fight with him; and the son of the king

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killed the Ameer in the field; and the battle lasted three days and a half, in which many people were killed on both sides; and as the Ameer was dead Kwekarynugo Menamotapam had the kingdom to himself, except that the territory of the Ameer would not submit to him; and the Ameer left a relative who is named Tolwa, and who now, with a son of the Ameer, wages war with the king Kwesarinuto, And the king Kwesarinuto sent many times to Tolwa to say that they should be friends, and Tolwa will not, and says that as he killed his lord he will kill him, And in this way, Sir, the war originated and is still today. And for this reason. Sir, the gold does not come to Sofala as it used, because some rob the other on both sides, and the gold, sir, is all found in the territory of the Ameer, and round about it. al­though there is some in all parts of the kingdom but in small quantities... the gold does not go out of the kingdom to Vealanga, except through Sofala and some­thing through Angoya, but not much. . .and so, Sir, I endeavoured to ascertain in what manner peace could be made between these two, the king of Vealanga and Tolwa; I was told that it could not be done except through the king of Sofala or through the king of Kilwa, and they would not make it... in order that the gold should not come through Sofala... that the Christians should not find i t . . . and that, Sir, if they make peace it will be by sending a present to the king Kwesarinugo Menamotapam and another to Tolwa... the king of Sofala, Sir, is a Moor and all the men who are in Sofala are Moors, some kaffirs live around about them, but not among them... I was assured, Sir, Sofala was part of the Kingdom of Kilwa. Mombassa, Sir is superior to Kilwa, both in merchants and other people. If the mer-chant returns from Sofala and passes Kilwa... he must go to Mombasa, and if he does not carry with him a clearance to show that he has paid at Kilwa, there they take the duty and send it to Kilwa".

The careful reader will have noted that there are several mistakes in the above narrative, particularly in the spelling of the name of the new Monomotapa.

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MONOMOTAPA AND ZIMBABWE. There is no evidence from the above that Monomotapa

ever resided at Zimbabwe, although attempts have been made to suggest that Zimbabwe was one of his residences. On the other hand there are good grounds for believing that the Monomotapas had never in any way the least connection with the Great Zimbabwe, for De Barros, who wrote in 1552, tells us that Zimbabwe was situated "in the midst of the plains in the Kingdom of Butau." De Barros was also familiar, seemingly, with the Mono-motapa's story of his rebel viceroy—the Ameer, for he tells us that Zimbabwe was in charge of the Monumo-tapa's viceroy and that "some of Monomotapa's wives lived there, though he himself lived six days journey away." (Actually Great Zimbabwe was a journey of from fifteen to twenty days away from Mount Fura, where Monomotapa resided).

Seemingly, De Barros did not credit Monomotapa with building Zimbabwe, neither did the BaKalanga themsel­ves make any such claim, for de Barros writes—"the natives say they (the Zimbabwes) are the work of the devil, because they are beyond their powers to execute." It is obvious that since Zimbabwe had been built, say, Circa 750 A.D., long before the appearance of the Ba­Kalanga, (circa 1450) they would naturally have no know­ledge of when Zimbabwe was built, or by whom.

MONOMOTAPA'S RESIDENCES. It will be noticed in d'Alcacova's account, that although

he tells us that the Monomotapa always resided at Zumu-bany, he later states that the Monomotapa was in resi­dence at Zunhauhy.

Now if it is intended that Zumubany and Zunhauhy were one and the same place, this needn't be looked on as a mistake, for if we examine these two names it will be found that they agree in a certain respect. The first name can be recognised as being a corruption of Sa-mu Banyai, and the second name is akin to this though in fact closer to the usual modern form rendered here as Ba Nyai, for this name in SeSotho is "Lehoya" and

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sometimes written Leghoya and BaNgoya. The Ba Ngoya or Lehoya were the first BaSotho people to reach South Africa, and everything points, according to the evidence to the fact that they were the first Bantu to reach Rhodesia, and were, therefore, the people known to the Arabs as the Limis, and who were the subjects of the Ameer. We conclude, therefore, that this place Zunhauhy, mentioned by d'Alcacova. is really Sa Nhoya—a town or place of the Ghoya. It seems obvious, too, that when Monomotapa invaded and conquered this part of the Ameer's Kingdom and the Ghoya there became his sub-jects—these names were retained.

It is not quite clear from d'Alcacova's letter as to whether he intends that Zunhauhy was the usual place of residence of Monomotapa, or some other place. If the former, then this name Zunhauhy would, as has already been demonstrated, indicate one and the same place as Zumubany.

However, in this connection, we have to consider the report made by Antonio Fernandes—the "Degredado", who to restore himself to favour, courageously made his remarkable journey into the interior, to bring back an account of what was to be found there. His journey took place in 1514, just a few years later than when d'Alcacova wrote. Here briefly, without recounting the whole adventure, is his account of his visit to Monomo­tapa, taken from the Portuguese records—"Documents of the Portuguese in Mozambique and Central Africa"— "Daly a Embire que he hua fortaleza d'el Rey de Mena-motapa que haguora faz de pedra em sosa, a qual se chama Camanhaya e homde elle sempre esta" This is translated—(he came) "to Embire (Mbire) which is a fortress of the king Monomotapa. and is made of stone without mortar, which is called Camanhaya, and where the king is always to be found". This latter sentence is rendered by Axelson in his book "South East Africa, 1485 to 1530" as "the actual name of the fortress was Camanhaya, and it was there that Monomotapa had his seat."

Axelson quotes Hugh Tracey (who seeks to identify the places mentioned by Fernandes) as interpreting the

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name "Camanhaya" as Kangaia or Kwa Manyaia. Now, as will readily be seen, this interpretation of the name Kwa Manyaia agrees perfectly with the name already given of Zimubany as Sa-mu-Banyai. In each case the place referred to is stated to be the seat or place where Monomotapa always resided.

It is necessary to comment here that though some writers suggest that the above name Mbire is the name of the Monomotapa, we would point out that the record states that "Embire" is a fortress of the King Monomo­tapa" and it is difficult to see how Mbire could be taken to be Monomotapa's name, especially in view of the fact that only some nine years previously d'Alca-cova gives the young Monomotapa's name as Kwesari-nuto, and there is no record of a change of rulership in that short space of time.

There seems to be some confusion as to where Mono-motapa was residing when Fernandes visited him. Accord-ing to some writers the Monomolapa's "great Palace" was near Mount Fura, now Mount Darwin; if this were the case, then undoubtedly this is where Zumubany or Ka-manhaya was situated—for in respect to each of these names they were stated to be the "seat" where he al­ways resided. If he had another residence on the Muse-ngezi River, as some suggest, as being the place where the missionary priest—Dom Goncales, was murdered by a later Monomotapa. then this other place of residence may have been Zunbauhy. Indeed it might well be that this other place, it may be accepted, was the Shangamire. This other place, Zunhauhy, could h a v e been the former "'Great Place" of the Ghoya Chief, whom it may be accepted, was the Shangamire—of d'Alcacova's account. In favour of this view is the fact that the main tributary of the Musengezi river is the Hoya, which in modern maps is shown as rising in the Mvuradona Mountains, and also as having more water than the Musengezi before its confluence with the Hoya.

It is tempting, too, to think that when the Ghoya were ousted from their former capital by the BaKalanga —they established their new "great place", across the Hunyani River in the Butwa territory, where the present

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town of Sinoia is located, and that this place, Sinoia, may have derived its name from Sa Nhoya, the Zunhauhy of d'Alcacova,

THE LEHOYA OR GHOYA. Whatever the much discussed origin of the other tribes

such as the Ba Rozwi, and the Mbiri may be, we can say we are on fairly sure ground when we consider the people still known as the BaNyai, who were formerly the Lehoya or Ghoya.. They were, we believe, the people known to the Arabs as "the Limis".

The Banyai are, according to Bullock, now looked on at this present time as a slave tribe, by their conquerors, the BaRozwi and BaMbire; for Bullock once heard a Mu-Kalanga chief say when he (Bullock) remarked on the BaKalanga lack of pride of race—"Ti ri BaNyai", which Bullock interpreted as "we are a slave tribe". No doubt this comparison by the BaKalanga of themselves with the Banyai came about by reason of the fact that even­tually both tribes, which had each once held, in their time, the dominant position, had eventually become vas­sals.

The Banyai are, almost certainly, the present day re­presentatives of the once powerful "Limi" people. Those in their ancestors once held sway. Their tribal name has been preserved in history in such place names as we have considered above. In that regard, too, is the place where one of their famous chiefs—Mongaz, had for Iong withstood Monomotapa and the Portuguese.

THE BANYAI. It is possible that some readers may be puzzled by

the identification on our part, of the Nyai with the Ngoia or Nghoya or Leghoya, as the name is variously written today. These differences in modern spelling only serve to underline the difficulty experienced by Europeans in writing down these Bantu names. Take the name Ba-Nyai for instance,—it is evident from the Portuguese records that this name suffered considerably at the hands still to be found in Livingstone's day in the area where­of the tribe who remain in what is now Rhodesia were

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of these writers, for Francisco da Sousa writing at the end of the seventeenth century records that "from Tete we see the great Kingdom of Munhay"; a further record states that "the Shidima country is inhabited by Mu-nhaies". Dos Santos, another Portuguese writer, refers to this country as that of Mengas. Other Portuguese writers, as we have seen previously, write the name of the onetime ruler of this territory as Mongaz, Mongazi etc. In spite of this confusion, it it still discernable that by Munhaie is intended MuNyai—the singular for Ba-Nyai; and also that this ruler (sometimes styled "Em-peror" by the Portuguese) was really "MonoNaya" or "Mwene Nghaya" or even "MuNghoya" which latter ap­proximates very closely to the modern spelling.

Most of what may be known of the BaNyai who re­main in the region of this former kingdom after the main body of this people whom we know as the Nghoya of BaSotholand, is derived from Livingstone's notes on his journey from Zumbo to Tete on the Zambesi, and from Fripp's "Gold and the Gospel".

Livingstone tells us that "a great many of the BaNyai are of a light coffee-and-milk colour, and indeed this colour is considered handsome throughout the whole country, a fair complexion being as much a test of beauty with them as with us. As they draw out their hair into small cords a foot in length, and entwine the inner bark of a certain tree round each separate cord, and dye this substance a reddish colour, many of them put me in mind of the ancient Egyptians. The great mass of dressed hair which they possess, reaches to the shoulders but when they intend to travel, they draw it up in a bunch, and tie it on top of the head. They are cleanly in their habits."

Livingstone tells us further that "the government of the BaNyai is rather peculiar, being a sort of feudal republicanism. The chief is elected, and they choose the son of the deceased chief's sister in preference to his own offspring. When dissatisfied with one candidate, they even go to a distant tribe for a successor, who is usually of the family of the late chief, a brother or a sister's son, but never his own son or daughter. When

first spoken to on the subject, the one approached answers as if he thought himself unequal to the task—The chil-dren of the chief have fewer privileges than common free men. These free men are a distinct class who can never be sold.. . Monina (a chief of the BaNyai) had a number of young men about him of twelve to fifteen years of age. These are all the son's of free men and live with such men as Monina for the sake of instruction. When I asked the nature of the instruction I was told "Bonyai".

The above-mentioned manner of the care exercised in the election of a suitable chief is reminiscent of the Arab account of the care taken in the choice of the Waqlimi.

Livingstone found some of the tribe of the Mbiri living among the BaNyai, and inclined to the opinion that they were all one people. He tells us too, that Katolosa —chief of the BaMbire—was also the Monomotapa of history. This piece of information is interesting in view of the fact that Mbire is believed by some to be the name of the Monomotapa when Fernandes - the Degredado -visited the Monomotapa's capital in 1514 However, as the Mbiri tribe would almost certainly appear to be the dreaded Cabires of Portuguese history, who invaded Mo-nomotapa's territory and settled in this same Chidima country around 1600—it is difficult to reconcile the re-corded fact of the Monomotapa's fear of them with a belief that he was one of them. There seems no reason to doubt that the Mbiri, who are to be found as far afield as in different places in the Sabi valley today, as well as in the Zambesi area, are in fact the Cabires of his­tory, for Cabire is simply KaMbire—the people of the Mbire, who was in all probability the Chief of the Mbiri before they crossed the Zambesi. Their totem is Nsoko— the monkey,

Constance Fripp's account from "Gold and the Gospel" gives us further information. She writes from accounts by several writers, edited by her. She writes that the people of Perizenge's town at the mouth of the Musengezi River were a mixture of BaNyai and Chiku-nda, and that the people in the Chidima country to the

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east of this are called Atavara, but the BaNyai villages soon begin and extend to those of the Mashona. Some BaNyai live also among the Mutandi on the Musongezi. She says that it is incorrect to say that the Chidima country is inhabited (exclusively) by BaNyai. She states further that the Munhaies of the Portuguese maps are unknown here. Actually, she does not appear to recog­nize that Munhaies is really another Portuguese attempt at writing BaNyai. and that this constituted the kingdom of the redoutable Mongaz, which extended formerly from near Sena into the Chidima territory beyond Tete. Con­stance Fripp adds that the BaNyai were scattered by invasions.

That the BaNyai were indeed scattered by invasions is borne out by the fact that since the time the above accounts of Livingstone and "Gold and the Gospel'' were written, it is doubtful if any BaNyai are still to be found in the Zambesi region, though some of them are to be found today as far south as the Limpopo River and Vendaland under the name BaRembetu, according to some writers. The BaMbiri were also scattered and are to be found, as already stated, in various parts of the Sabi Valley.

From the above and other accounts it appears to be established that the important tribe occupying the whole country before the coming of the Karanga were the BaNyai. That the BaNyai represent those proto-Sothos who were long in occupation of the "Land of Gold" appears to be confirmed by the Arab writer Ibn Sayd, who wrote (circa 1250) that in this country (the Land of Gold, also called the country of Sofala) were the cities of Banya and Syouna, and that the king of this country lived at Syouna.* It seems fairly evident that

* NOTE ON ABOVE: From the Portuguese records of the port of Sofala, under date of 1506, we learn that the factor of Sofala "Gave Gifts to a Moorish king who lives up-river (the Zambezi) on the confines of the Kaffirs—to establish peace". This place of residence of the Moorish king, we submit, would be Sena; and the "Moorish king"—the son of the slain Ameer of the Emozaid-Lemba. He with Tolwa, his relative of the Western (or Butwa) section of the kingdom, evidently rejected these further Portuguese advances.

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the name Banya was in all probability an attempt on the part of this Arab geographer to write BaNyai as the name of the town occupied by the chief of the Bantu people of the territory i.e. the great place of the "Wa-qlimi", who ruled his people under the Arab Ameer of the Emozaid who resided at Syouna - now Sena. The later attempt by d'Alcacova to write the name of the place where Munomutapa always resided was Zumubany—Zu-mu-Banyai, according to Tracey, comes very close to the Arab attempt of some two hundred and fifty years earlier.

Vendu tradition speaks of a sojourn among the Ba-Nyai on the part of the Balemba and the BaSenzi—as the ruling section of the Venda formerly were named, according to their tradition, as they journeyed from Sena through Mongaz territory on their journey across to the Belingwe area, and thence from Buhwa of Belingwe south to Vendaland. The close association of the BaLemba with the BaNyai in former times is confirmed by the fact that the knife used by the BaLemba in their "kosher" killing is still spoken of as "the knife of the BaNyai". This journey must have taken place during one of the periods of tribal upheavals which were of frequent oc­curence within the "empire". Prior to that there had been different tribal movements further north, which were probably instrumental in bringing these BaSenzi down into the Sena area, where their association with the BaLemba and their chief "Mpossi," began.

OTHER TRIBAL MOVEMENTS. McCall Theal states that the coming into existence of

the Portuguese "prazos" (circa 1650) led to a general disintegration of the Bantu tribes between the Zambesi and the Sabi Rivers. Even before this time the tribal un­rest occasioned by the rebellion of the ousted legitimate Monomotapa Kapranzine (circa 1630) would seem to have led to large-scale movements of BaKalanga into the ButwaTorwa territory in the Sabi valley and further west, in an effort to escape from the wholesale slaughter and continuous disturbances within the Munomutapan "em-

pire", even though this move into the Butwa-Torwa area meant that these refugees had to become vassals of Ma-mbo, the conqueror of the Torwa Territory.

Later writers of around the turn of this century give us some idea of the trend of these tribal movements. For instance Hall in his book "Great Zimbabwe"' tells us that the country around Zimbabwe was once the ter­ritory of "the once-powerful tribe of the Amangwa, who were driven away from the Zimbabwe district by the present local MaKalanga. who came there some seventy years previously from the Sabi district. They (these MaKalanga) "came originally from Masungye in the direction of the Lower Sabi. They moved to Jena, and finally to the Beroma country in the neighbourhood of Zimbabwe. They drove out the Amangwa, who oc­cupied Zimbabwe and the country for a considerable dis­tance around". Hall adds that the Amangwa have the lion as their totem.

One wonders if these Amangwa were not some of the original inhabitants of the period prior to the coming of the BaRozwi. It is possible that the name Amangwa is derived from Ama-Ngwa or Ama-Ngowa of the Ngowa people, which name in turn may be a corruption of the name Ngaya. The "Lion" totem is suggestive too, bearing in mind that the lion (ntou) is the totem of the Nghoya. The name of the territory—Beroma—is also interesting, in that it was the name of the Prince or Ameer of the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom in 1560.

Another tribal movement is that of part of the tribe or clan of the Mashawasha BaSezurus, They moved from their territory of Musana, north of Salisbury to just south of Zimbabwe. The most likely time for this move-ment to have taken place was after the defeat of the rebel Monomotapa—Kaprazine (circa 1630). Kapranzine's great ally was the powerful chief Mokamowasha, whose name, though suffering possibly from the Portuguese attempt at writing it—suggests that he was the chief of these BaSezura people—the Mashawasha, and that through fear of the revenge of the new Monomotapa many of them may have fled south into Butwa-Torwa territory, like the BaKalanga, as already suggested.

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Another later exodus from the area north of Salisbury was that of a further section of the BaSezura, who be-fore Selous' time, during a great famine went south into the Sabi valley, where some of them found a refuge and food among the Njanja. These Njanja would seem to be what remains of one of the aforementioned Portuguese Prazos, for they claim that they are all descended from Sinyoro (Senhor)— a Portuguese, who was their father or chief in the distant past. The BaSezuru were permitted to intermarry with the Njanja, or rather they gave their daughters to the Njanja in exchange for food. It is sug-gested that those of their number who refused to resort to this expedient, became known as the BaHera, the people who refused. Their tradition is, seemingly, that they crossed the Sabi in the direction of Odzi for a time, but returned to their present area later.

Other movements were of Seke's people from the Maranke area in the Umtali district to the vicinity of Salisbury, where they displaced a people whose chief was Neharawa (from which the name Harari is said to be derived). Seki's people were of the Bocha clan of the Manyika. Then later, at Seki's invitation a friend of his named Gutsa—an iron-worker from Nyashanu (near Enkledoorn) came with his people and drove out a Makorekore chief from where Salisbury City is now situated.

Evidence of many other tribal movements, gleaned as with the above, from tribal historians, could be mentioned. Many of these movements were brought about by the terrible Amandebele raids into their territories, causing the people to flee in terror to other areas. It is important to note in this connection that both Bent and Hall assert on the authority of the people themselves—that Ba-Kalanga only came into the Zimbabwe—Fort Victoria area a few decades before their (Hall's and Bent's) visits to Great Zimbabwe, showing that as the BaKalanga are only recent arrivals in the area, they could not have built Zimbabwe, as some writers contend.

It will be recollected that mention has been made of the strong tradition existing among the BaLemba, and the ruling people of the BaVenda, who were formerly called

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BaSenzi, that they journeyed together from the territory round Sena to Buhwa near Belingwe. These BaLemba from the Sena area were the Ameer's people who re­mained there after the division of their kingdom by the incoming BaTonga and BaKalanga, whose wedge-shaped "empire" brought about this division. Eventually, as already mentioned, at some period during the up­heavals in the Munomutapan "empire", the Ba-Lemba and their allies—the BaSenzi, decided to move over into the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. They came to Buhwa, and

a battle ensued between them, or between the Ba-Lemba, in particular, and the people of Mambo, who had already established themselves at some time pre­viously as the rulers of the kingdom. The BaLemba were defeated, and about this time a league of friend­ship was established between the BaSenzi and Mambo's people, with the customary intermarriage between the rulers. Eventually according to Venda tradition a war broke out between the two sons of the royal marriage, when one son Rozwi, with his people, moved away north­ward, and the other son with his people, after a further stay in Belingwe area,eventually moved southward to-wards Vendaland, accompanied by the remaining people of the BaLemba from Sena.

The above tradition seems to tie up with the tradition of the mysterious "Haka" people mentioned by Von Siccard and others. They are stated to have fought with and driven out some of the BaRozwi from the Belingwe-Buhwa area. These BaRozwi under their chiefs Chiporiro, Chimera etc., made their way from Buhwa northward, and occupied the Sebungwe district near Sinoia. Then into the territory vacated by them, and as we may believe, after the departure of the BaSenzi and BaLemba, there was a movement of BaSezuru people. These BaSezuru occupied also the territory at Gwelo and Selukwe and and aa far over to the east as Gutu.

It could be suggested that the name "Haka" for the BaSenzi-Venda was a word used by the people of Mambo to describe the combined Lemba-Senzi union, the word "Haka" being a word used in the southern Congo area for clever sorcerers who "haka-manga" i.e. make power-

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ful medicine, "ku haka" being the verb, while "manga" or "Bwanga" is the word for medicine in the form of a talisman. The BaLemba, and the BaSenzi were posses­sed of a famous drum called Ngoma Lundundu—"the drum which thunders"—which was believed to bring death to their enemies when beaten. This drum combined with the mysterious powers ascribed to the BaLemba would impress the people of Mambo, so that they would look on the BaSenzi-Lemba combination as powerful sorcerers, able to "haka-manga" or make deadly medicine, and thus this combined people would probably be spoken of as Ba Haka-manga, later to be shortened to "BaHaka".

The chief of the BaLemba from Sena bore then, as now, the dynastic title of Mpossi. which appears to be a corruption of an ancient Arab title, meaning something less than Ameer. This, no doubt, was the title given to the descendants of the one-time Ameer, given possibly in view of their failing fortunes, at which time the title of Ameer or Governor would no longer be appropriate.

Von Siccard suggests that the BaLemba had at least close association with the Bapedi as well as with the BaVenda, for he finds that in the pedigree of the Pedi chiefs occur such typical old Lemba names as Molamus and Le-gadiman. The latter name, he suggests, being identical with Seremane.

This writer, Von Siccard, states that the name "Pedi" of the above mentioned people, is probably a corruption of the name Mbedzi, which people in turn, are closely related to the Govha or Gowa groups. Among the groups he includes also the BaRembetu or Lembetu, stated by other authorities to be BaNgai. This link-up of the Ba-Ngai with the BaNgowa in this way is an indication that these were all one people originally—the BaNgai, and if the surmise regarding the Pedi link-up is correct, then the incidence of the Lemba names in the pedigree of their chiefs is accounted for i.e. through the long associa­tion of these people with the Arab Emozaid-Lemba these names having been taken as a compliment to their over­lords, just as the Bantu have been accustomed to doing in the past, in our era, with European names.

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THE ORIGIN OF THE BA ROZWI.

Having referred just now to the BaRozwi and their tribal movements, it seems opportune at this juncture to consider their origin. From the evidence, it seems fairly conclusive that they were in some way related to the Ba Venda, and the traditions of the latter people would appear to indicate the extent of this relationship, i.e. that when these two peoples resided together at Buhwa, a considerable degree of intermarriage occured between them. The outcome of a marriage between the royal families of both tribes was the birth of two sons, one of whom "Rozwi" gave his name to the tribe who were the subjects of Mambo. The other son became the chief of the people we now know as the Ba Venda, who were formerly, as they say, the Ba Senzi.

From whence came the people of Mambo, who were later to be known as the Ba Rozwi? A well-established tradition among them appears to provide a clue. This tradition states that they came into the territory—to Buhwa—because of having to flee from their original homeland. The cause of their flight was that their former great chief ordered his people to build a wooden structure which eventually collapsed, killing many people. Many of the survivors fled from the wrath of the chief, among whom were the ancestors of Mambo and the Ba Rozwi.

Some of the Rozwi tribal historians appear to believe that this incident actually occured at Buhwa, but its similarity to a strong tradition among the ruling families of tribes in Zambia, and up to the Congo, would certain­ly appear to indicate that all relate to one and the same incident.

This story is told in particular by the ruling families of the Ba Bemba who were Lunda, and who fled, they say, from the wrath of the great chief Mwata Yamvo— Chief of the Ba Lunda—after the collapse of the tower, which he commanded them to build to get the moon down out of the sky for him.

We conclude, therefore that the existence of this story as a Rozwi tradition points to a common origin with these Lunda rulers of the Ba Bemba. The Mambo's

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people the Ambo as we believe—were seemingly an off­shoot of the Lala, who have a tradition of Bemba chiefs, which chiefs, would, we suggest, also be of Lunda origin.

THE DIVISION OF THE AMEER'S KINGDOM. We must now consider the division of the Kingdom

of the Ameer of the Emozaid, brought about by the invasion of Tonga-Karanga peoples.

If we accept that the BaNyai, as represented by the Kingdom of Mongaz, were one and the same people as the Limis of the Arab writers, then we have in the people of Mongaz an indication of the division of the Limi Kingdom of the Ameer. It seems very obvious that the kingdom was divided by the Tonga-Karanga invasion about the year 1450.

We must recognize, too, that the division would affect not only these Limi-BaNyai-Sotho peoples, but also the people of the Ameer—whom we believe to be the Emo-zaid, later to be known as the Ba Lemba. That this was so, seems apparent from d'Alcacova's account of what happened! After his death, two representatives of the Ameer are mentioned—the Ameer's son, and the Ameer's relative whose name was Tolwa.

Now since Tolwa gave his name to what came to be known as the Butwa-Torwa kingdom, it undoubtedly indi­cates he was the ruler of that Kingdom. It seems to be indicated also, that the Ameer's son continued to rule in the other section of the divided kingdom, presumably from Sena, which was formerly the Ameer's capital It is most unlikely that he would be completely disinherited in favour of Tolwa, but rather that he should continue to rule from what was his father's capital, instead of in the other section of the kingdom. One can well believe, however, that if the Ameer's son were to continue in the Sena area with his followers, he would be forced to do so in as unostentatious a manner as possible in order to avoid conflict with the surrounding tribes.

What of the Limi-BaNyai people who were left in the Sena area after the Kingdom was divided? Here again we must conclude that since the name of their ruler— Shangamire—is afterwards almost invariably mentioned

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in connection with the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, this ruler of the "Limis" moved with Tolwa into the Butwa area. What then of his subjects who were left in the Sena area? There is no reason to doubt that they are represented by the Chief Mongaz and his people. Isolated as they were, being cut off from their ruler Shangamlre, and the main section of his people, they were forced to come to terms with the Monomotapa, by becoming his vassals. However, they appear to have been vassals with a difference, for they seem to have been sufficiently strong to have pre­served a kind of neutrality, thus maintaining their king­dom in the Mongaz area intact, though their fellow-tribes­men further over in the area occupied by Monomotapa and the BaKalanga were completely subservient.

Now while the people of Mongaz looked on him as their ruler in his area, they seem to have regarded Shangamire as their paramount Chief, and proof of this would appear to be found in the Portuguese writer—Batelho's—record of the whereabouts of the ancient gold mines as quoted by Stewart in "The Ancient Gold-fields of Africa". In this record Batelho mentions not only the Butwa mines in the dominions of the Emperor Shangamire at Sanhate (Sinyati) but he mentions also the mines of the Emperor Shangamire to the south-east of Zambesi, thus indicating, undoubtedly, the territory of Mongaz.

The strength of Mongaz and his people was of such a nature that there were times when the Portuguese seemingly wondered if, after all, Mongaz was not just as powerful as Monomotapa. The latter Chief certainly feared Mongaz, and consequently availed him­self of every opportunity to try and subjugate Mongaz and his people more fully to Karanga domination. This he managed to do eventually with the aid of the Portu-guese, but not without a long and bitter struggle which almost cost him his kingdom.

The Kingdom of Mongaz, it may be deducted, was no small insignificant chieftainship. It extended from Sena up to Tete, and for a considerable distance into the ter­ritory to the west. It does not appear to have extended across the Zambesi for mention is made by the Portu­guese writer Dos Santos of a people who venerated the

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crocodile, and believed by McCall Theal to be the Ba-Kwena, as being then across the river from Mongaz.

At that period, as at the present, the name Tshombe was also known, for he was the chief of the people who lived across the Zambesi from Mongaz, and who was an avowed enemy of the latter. Tshombe was probably a chief of the Malawi people, who around that time had made their way into the area from the Congo.

At Sena, where we believe the Ameer's son and his descendants resided as rulers over the Emozaid-Ba Lemba, various tribal movements took place which considerably altered conditions for the succeeding Ameers. History records the coming of the above mentioned Malawi into the territory from the Congo region around 1600, and these invaders, as they occupied the territory on both sides of Lake Nyassa, undoubtedly displaced other tribes from the occupied territory causing them to move south­ward into the Sena area.

Thus it was, as we can well believe, that the Senzi (Zanji) people—the possessors of the drum "Errohim" as mentioned by the Arab writer Idrisi (circa 1150)—would be forced out of their territory, and down into the Sena area. We say this because a people answering to the des­cription of what could well be the Senzi of the above-mentioned famous drum, certainly came to Sena, from a place called Matongoni, according to their tradition; and this place Matongoni appears to be identifiable with a place called Metangula, which may be seen on a good map as being on the east side of Lake Nyassa These people of the magic drum, calling themselves BaSenzi, became closely associated in the Sena area with the people we now know as the Ba Lemba Eventually cir-cumstances, possibly pressure from the Malawi, caused both these peoples—the BaLemba and BaSenzi to move from Sena. Their traditions show that following a period of residence among the Ba Nyai, they made their way into the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, to Buhwa. The people of the drum still called themselves Zanj i.e. BaSenzi, but the drum had lost its original name "Errohim" and was now referred to usually as "Ngoma Lundundu", which

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may be interpreted as already suggested,—"The Drum That Thunders", and which was believed to have magic powers, including the power of death to their enemies given to it by Mwali. This name Mwali, we have already demonstrated to be a Bantuised form of Allah.

During the period of the rule of the descendants of the Ameer at Sena, their powers gradually became less and less, until eventually they were reduced to the role of what must have been little more than that of a Bantu chief. Their rule could no longer be regarded as that of an Ameer of Governor of a vast territory, with various tribes subject to his overlordship. Nevertheless, the ruler of the Emozaid-Lemba in the Sena area still retained an Arab title—that of Kari, corrupted by Bantu usuage, as explained by Sir Richard Burton, to Mhozi. Then, in course of time, the "h" in Mhozi was changed further by Bantu usuage to Mposi, and was written down by writers in modern times as Mpossi. Mposi or Mpossi is still a dynastic title for the chief of these Ba Lemba of Belingwe and Vendaland, where the Ba Lemba of that latter country still acknowledge Mpossi as their Chief, even though he now resides at Belingwe.

Speaking of Vendaland reminds us that the Ba Venda appear to be related to the Ba Sotho, or that they had at least close association with one another over a lengthy period, as would appear to be established by similarity of language. It is very possible that this close association took place in the Sena area, where we find not only the people of Mongaz, but also the BaKwena across the Za­mbesi from Mongaz, if we are to accept McCall Theal's conclusions. These conclusions he based mainly on the description given by the Portuguese writer—the Domini­can Friar, Dos Santos—as already mentioned. Dos Santos writes, "Below these Mountains of Lupata...facing the lands of Mongaz" etc. He then goes on to tell of this people who believed that the spirit of their dead entered the crocodiles of Lake Rufumba. For this reason, Theal identifies this people with the BaKwena, whose totem is the crocodile, even as indicated by their name BaKwena, —"Kwena" being the word for crocodile.

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(One wonders, in passing, if the appearance of the people of the crocodile totem—the BaKwena—on their borders, did not seem as a menace to the security of the Butwa-Torwa-Emozaid kingdom, and if the fear thus occasioned did not find expression on the famous soap-stone carving which depicts a crocodile crawling menac­ingly up on the Zimbabwe bird—the hawk or vulture (Nasr)—emblem of these Arab rulers). THE GHOYA

Concerning the aforementioned Limi Ghoya, it is surely significant that these same emigrant people possessed a considerable knowledge of building in stone, a knowledge which can only be attributed to the fact that they had for long been instructed in the art by the Arab Emozaid, who we may believe, employed them to do the actual labour for them in conjunction also with the Hottentots and Bushmen, in the construction of Great Zimbabwe and all the lesser Zimbabwes.

ARRIVAL OF THE GHOYA IN RHODESIA. Opinions differ somewhat among the various authorities

as to the date of the arrival of the proto-Sotho. Ellen-berger believes that they started on their southward journey from the vicinity of the Great Lakes in the tenth century and that they stayed in Rhodesia for perhaps two hundred years. During their stay they intermarried with the earlier inhabitants, whom we believe were the Bushmen and the Hottentots.

Miss Caton-Thompson places the time of the arrival of these proto-Sotho in the tenth century or earlier. She bases her conclusions on her archaeological findings.

Roger Summers is averse to the use of the term "Bantu", but nevertheless indicates a change from his Phases I and II Iron Age people, who appear to be akin to the Bushmen and Hottentots. For his Phase III people he finds a clue to their identity in Masoudi's recently arrived Abyssinians, who differed from the other in­habitants.

Walton, the author of African Village, feels that some­time during or before the ninth century, is the most

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accurate date that can be given for the arrival in what is now Rhodesia, of the first Bantu—the Proto-Sotho.

On the other hand, if we are to accept that Masoudi gives us the account of the first appearance of the Bantu, whom we may call the "Limis", then the estimate of some time in the ninth century is too early by about 100 years. The C.I4 test, too, seems to favour the later date for the arrival of these proto-Sotho.

If we are correct in our surmise that the Ghoya and the Fokeng were the Limis, and that they were under the guidance and direction of the Emozaid, then we could expect to find among them some evidence of their association with these people. This evidence is not lack­ing, for of all the Bantu tribes, these, and particularly the Ghoya manifest such marked ability in building in in stone, that one can only conclude that this ability came about as the outcome of long experience in stone-masonry during their centuries-long stay in Rhodesia. Not only so, but in the Northern Transvaal there is also some evidence of terracing. In the whole of their mig-ration south, into the western Transvaal, the Free State and on into Basutoland, they have left hehind them marked evidences of their building in stone. Their cor-balled stone huts and stone walls might well cause the beholder who has seen the distinctive pattern of the Zim-

babwe stonework to remark on the similarity of the type of stonework, with prepared stones of similar size to those at Zimbabwe, and bonded in like manner, and all without mortar. This ability to build in stone has persist­ed to this present time, though it is now fast dying out amongst them.

It is interesting to note, too, something that has already been remarked on earlier i.e. that the ruling section of these people is known as the Ba Taung. It will be remembered that the ruler of the Limis has been referred to by one Arab writer as the Touklim, which has been interpreted as "The Lion of the Lord", and the Ba Taung are the people of the Lion. The lion greeting has been preserved among some of the related BaSotho tribes— this greeting is "Ntau", i.e. Lion.

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Other places where the Ghoya lived and built their corballed huts besides Taung, were situated on different tributaries of the Vaal River. Here we find not only the corballed stone huts described as "beehive", but also extensive stonewalling. Further evidences of the Ghoya movements southward are to be found near Winburg.

Stamped pottery is also attributed to the Ghoya, and may prove to be a further indication of the extent of their occupation of Rhodesia, where stamped earthernware is often referred to by the experts as evidence of the exis­tence in various areas of these first Bantu. The Ghoya type pottery has been described as "burnished stamped ware".

Though comparatively little evidence has been found of smelting and the production of iron implements among the Ghoya and Fokeng, this is understandable, for it will be recollected that the BaLemba preferred to keep their knowledge of these skills as almost a religious secret. Even among the Ba Venda until comparitively recent times, all the iron and copper working, as well as pottery was in the hands of the Ba Lemba, and was revealed to only the favoured few.

LANGUAGE. The thought may occur to some concerning the changes

in language, with especial reference to the Ghoya and other tribes formerly resident in the land of Gold— Rhodesia. It is true, that the Ghoya and Fokeng speak SeSotho, as would be expected if they left the country shortly after the Karanga invasion. The Ghoya who re­mained in the country after the invasion and under Ka-ranga dominion are also to be expected to speak Karanga, though the BaKalanga and BaNyai living to the west of Bulawayo speak a form of Karanga, which differs to a noticable extent from Shona, while resembling to quite a degree the Venda language. The spread of the Karanga language is due to the fact that many of the Karanga clans moved over into the Rozwi territory during the break-up of the Monomotapa kingdom

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ARABS AND ZIMBABWE—SOME OPINIONS. Bent in the preface to "The Ruined Cities of Mashona-

land"—writes "I am more than ever convinced that the authors of these ruins were a northern race coming from Arabia".

R. N. Hall in "Prehistoric Rhodesia" writes "The build­ings of the Pheonicians and Carthagenians were undoubt­edly angular, but the temples of Arabia and even more east were elliptical or rounded. Massoude (915 A.D.) speaks of the round and unroofed temples; the towers eight cubits high, set in a particular angle of the temples, and the monoliths in Arabia.

The form of the enclosing walls, whether angular or rounded, probably but defines the originating source, and, in the case of Zimbabwe, points to an intrusion of Arabian and not Phoenician influence".

Bent quotes Palgrave on his Arabian travels concerning the many monoliths he saw on the lower Nejed.

"Concerning burials at Zimbabwe. Bent writes that he came to the conclusion that the ancient inhabitants who formed the garrison in this country (Rhodesia), were in the habit of removing their dead to some safer place. This plan seems to have a parallel in Arabia in antiquity".

McNair Wilson Swan of Bent's party, who strongly inclined to the view that the Zimbabwe builders were sun-worshippers, is nevertheless considerably disturbed by his findings, as evidenced by his recorded opinion ex-pressed as follows—"The sun's rays would not fall on the altar at this time, and it seems strange to have an altar devoted to solar worship under the shadow of a wall; but the same objection would apply to every part of the interior of the temple, and we hardly suppose that the priests of Zimbabwe performed their ceremonies of wor­ship outside the temple, as some tribes of Arabs do with some stone circles at the present day".

Swan writes further concerning the Zimbabwe builders —"We may assume that they had their architecture as well as their religion in common with their mother-coun­try. The balance of probabilities seems to be in favour of that country being South Arabia".

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Hall and Neil writing about the Lundi ruins, quote a Major Condor as saying "The circle is a sacred inclosure, without which the Arab still stands with his face to the rising sun."

Bent writing about the soapstone birds on pedestals at Zimbabwe says "We find the vulture as the totem of a Southern Arabian tribe at the time of the Himyaritic supremacy and it was worshipped there as the god Nasr".

Hitti informs us that the Arab pagan deities included Nasr—the vulture, and "Awf", the great bird.

As mentioned earlier the Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Arab Islamic sects had incorporated in their beliefs and practices, many pre Islamic customs which were too deeply rooted in the lives of men to be abolished. Consent to these heathen inclusions was term­ed "ijma".

Bent says of pottery found at Zimbabwe—"These pot-tery objects must have been brought here by Arab traders during the middle-ages.. ." He writes about the ancient gold-workings as follows "The gold fields of Mashonaland formed one at least of the sources from which came the gold of Arabia. The forts and towns which ran up the whole length of the gold-producing country were made to protect men engaged in this industry. The cumulative evidence is greatly in favour of the gold diggers being of Arabian origin".

Roger Summers writes "It has been pointed out that the people who occupied Zimbabwe Hill in phases 1 and 2 were in some way connected with the earliest gold trade, which the beads (found there) suggest was in the hands of the Arabs. Despite Indian connections (with the gold trade) the carrying trade was probably in Arab hands so, until the Portugues came, we may properly speak of the "Arab gold trade", although the ultimate purchaser was India".

Hall's conclusions about Great Zimbabwe:-(1) That on the departure of the ancient builders and

occupiers—the temple became a ruin and remained as such for some centuries, the west wall dissappearing in the meantime.

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(2) That some organised Arab people...who reached Sofala (1100 A.D.) exploited the gold mines and formed a mixed population between the Arabs and natives. One of these (Arab) peoples is believed to be responsible for the ruins of Inyanga.

(3) That these Arabs made Zimbabwe their head­quarters to which the worked gold-dust was brought to be converted into ingots for transport.

(4) That these Arabs carried on extensive gold-smelting operations at the west end of the Temple.

(5) That these Arabs later built a wall employing native labour.

(6) That these Arabs later built several of the en­closures in the temple to suit their special convenience and altogether regardless of the buried foundations of the ancient builders".

From the foregoing, one gathers that though Hall was convinced that the authors of the Zimbabwe buildings were a people from very ancient times, he couldn't escape the conclusions that Arabs occupied Great Zimbabwe at a later date and also did some building.

Finally, de Barros—the Portuguese Historian writing circa 1552, informs us of Arab opinion concerning Zi­mbabwe. These Arabs, we can believe were not of the Emozaid, nevertheless their opinion is valuable. De Barros writes—"The Moors (Arabs) attributed to them (the Zimbabwes) a very great antiquity, and believed that they were built to protect the mines, which are also very ancient".

THE CONICAL TOWER. In his first chapter of "Zimbabwe—A Rhodesian

Mystery"—Roger Summers tells us that the modern archaeologist accepts the old schoolman's dictum "Causes ought not to be unnecessarily increased in number", This is good advice when we come to consider the Conical Tower in the Zimbabwe Temple.

Many writers see in this tower something which is suggestive of an Arab Moslem minaret. We may include among these Miss Caton-Thompson, who writes—"Is it outside the range of possibility that a minaret on an

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early mosque in one of the coastal settlements. . . gave the idea of the conical tower?...Though I am unable to admit direct racial derivation from Arabia or Mesopota­mia, have we by a long process of typological derivation found in the Mohammedan minaret the connecting link between the Zimbabwe cone and its ancient Semitic pro­totype so strongly urged by many enquirers, but so im­possible chronologically?

Certainly the resemblance to a minaret would be in-creased were the dentelle pattern which decorated the top in Mauch's day still in position. . . At Zanzibar is a modern mosque. . . whose minaret is decorated with the double chevron so familiar in the girdle wall of the Elliptical Building. In view of the conservative mind of the Moslem the pattern probably perpetuates a long established Zanzibar design. In the meantime, for what it is worth, I should draw attention to the fact that the mural decoration of alternate courses of horizontal bands of a stone of a different colour is characteristic of Sara­cenic architecture, and I am inclined to think that some such fount of inspiration accounts for the appearance of this decoration at Zimbabwe".

It should be noted that Miss Caton Thompson while suggesting art Arab Moslem source as providing the inspiration for the Zimbabwe Conical Tower, as well as the mural decorations—contends nevertheless, that it is impossible chronologically for the Arabs to have built Zimbabwe with its tower, and so feels obliged to fall back on the belief that the Bantu were the builders.

But is it impossible chronologically? According to Roger Summers, whom we have already quoted in this respect, the C.14 test reveals that 702 AD. is the earliest date for the building of the wall from which the Tamboo-tie wood for the test was taken, and even then, there are valid reasons for assuming that it may not have been built till possibly a hundred years or so later—say around 800 A.D., at which time it would appear that the Bantu had not yet arrived, though the evidence suggests that the Arabs were already in the area.

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Our contention is that the Arab Emozaid, now the Ba Lemba, fit perfectly into the picture chronologically and in every other way. Even if it be contended that Zi­mbabwe was built at an earlier date than the one indic­ated by the C.14 test, we can still point to the fellow refugees of the Emozaid—the followers of Suleiman and Said, and if necessary point further back still to the pre-Moslem Arabs from the Yemen, who are known to have ventured down the East African Coast as far as Madagas­car some considerable time before the Moslem era.

THE WORKMEN BUILDERS UNDER THE EMOZAID. Having dealt somewhat exhaustively with the Ghoya,

as being the Sotho tribe having a knowledge of building in stone through having spent several centuries in the territory now known as Rhodesia, where they received their knowledge of building in stone through their close association with the Arab Emozaid builders—working as labourers under their direction;—we must now also consider the earlier peoples who came under the sway of the Emozaid Arab over-lords, before the advent of the proto-Sotho Ghoya in the days of Masoudi.

Roger Summers in his book on Zimbabwe, as already quoted, shows five phases, indicating the different peoples dwelling in the Zimbabwe area. The first phase points to the Bushmen mainly, and phase 2, where the Hottentots as well as the Bushmen were in occupation. Both peoples we can believe were employed in the building operations as labourers. No skeletons were found in the area, of Hottentots, in phase 2, "nor indeed, (writes Summers) in any other phase at Zimbabwe were skeletal remains found, but elsewhere a good many burials of a similar period have been unearthed. At Mapungubwe, Gerdner has described these people as Hottentots".

The Bushmen have depicted the Hottentot newcomers "on the rocks in a different style from that reserved for the artists themselves". Summers adds that "The high proportion of Bushmen physical traits found in later skeletons. . . shows that the Bushmen and newcomers intermarried frequently. These newcomers, as revealed

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from their pottery fame from the general direction of East Africa."

"Phase 3, Roger Summers tells us, is represented on Zimbabwe hill by a great mass of daga some twelve feet thick. This represents the decay and rebuilding of daga huts over quite a long period, and indeed our radiocarbon dates show that this phase lasted from A.D. 1080 (plus minus 150) to A.D, 1450 (plus minus 150).

We reiterate here, that this third phase is that of the so-called proto-Sotho, known also historically as the sub-jects of the Waqlimi, and eventually as the "Limis" as pointed out earlier. To recapitulate what has already been stated—they were mentioned first of all by El Masoudi, who wrote of them in 947 A.D., as newcomers from Abyssinia, who had only recently arrived in the Sofala area, although it would appear that the words "newcomer" and "recently" do not actually occur in the Arabic text, nevertheless they may be inferred. Then Dimashqui, who died in 1327, refers to their king as "Touklim", and finally Ibn Battutah around 1350 A.D., refers to them as the "Limis", We can add that until today the BaSothos are almost exclusively the only people who refer to God as Mulimo, others who use this name, such as the Amandebele and BaVenda, have adopted the name from them, as the name of the Supreme Being.

This name "Mulimo", as evidenced by the above, has gone through many changes over the centuries, and was derived, as we have pointed out, from the old Arab name for God—recorded by Idrisi as "Errohim" and still used in certain Arab countries as Elohim—with variations to this day.

Now seeing this period of the "Limis" as we may call them, extended throughout the whole of Phase 3, posed by Roger Summers, and seeing the buildings and fortifi­cations of Great Zimbabwe, Inyanga, etc., commenced even before the date of phase 3 in the time of the Bushmen and Hottentots as revealed by Summers in­vestigation—is it to be accepted that the Bushmen, them­selves, conceived the idea, passed it on to the Hottentots to improve on, and that it was then in turn developed

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by the Bantu, as represented by these Proto-Sotho peoples, and other later comers such as the BaKalanga and Ba-Rozwi. It must be obvious that the continuity manifested in all these operations, even though they pass through various phases, indicates that behind it all, there was one controlling force guiding and directing the different types of work, and it is here that the Arab followers of the sect of Zaid fit into this picture.

The objections to this, put forward on such grounds as, that the Arabs could not have been the instigators of these buildings because of poor bonding in places as being unlike other known Arab huilding work—is to suppose that these Arabs who fled so precipitately from the Yem­en, Hadhramaut and Oman, would be careful to bring with them a corps of master-builders. One can picture only too well the struggles of these refugees as they sought to establish themselves in a new country in the midst of such barbarous people as the Bushmen and Hottentots. It should be recollected that even early European settlers in these Southern African countries did not produce in general, building work such as would identify them with the countries of their origin. Most of their earlier habitations in the interior were of wattle and daub, even though un­like the Zaidi Arabs, they did not leave their homelands hurriedly as refugees.

Everything points to the conclusion that these Arab religious refugees fleeing from their land to Africa, be­tween the years 684 A.D. to 750 A.D. were the builders. That they were preceeded by Arabs of the period ante­rior to the Mohammedan era is borne out too by the references quoted earlier from a variety of sources. These earlier settlers were no doubt soon converted to the Zaidi sect of Mohammedanism by the zeal of the new settlers. It is possible, that these earlier settlers higher up the continent had penetrated also into the interior in search of such riches as gold and ivory, and had introduced the first Bantu peoples contacted by them to their own conception of God—a sort of polytheism ex­pressed by the name "Elohim", later corrupted to "Erro-him", after the same manner in which the Somalis have

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changed the same name in process of time to "Ilahey" and the Tunisians and Egyptians to "Allahi", and some other peoples using Arabic, to "Allahu".

THE WAK-WAK. It is evident from the findings of Summers and others

that the Bushmen were the first people encountered by the Arabs in the Sofala area, though the description of the Wak-Waks by Idrisi in 1150 A.D. as being "Hideous abo­riginals whose speech resembles whistling" does not seem to tally with the usual description of Bushmen speech i.e. as being "composed of clicks and grunts'". The men­tion of whistling is more suggestive of the speech of present-day Shangaan peoples, and may be accounted for in the manner suggested by H. P. Junod, in "Bantu Heri­tage", that there was an earlier arrival in the area south of Sofala of a primitive people from west Africa, akin to the Ba Chopi. These may have arrived even earlier on the scene than at the time suggested by Junod, and may have brought with them the whistling kind of speech, to be taken over later by the first Tonga. These earlier arrivals would have intermarried with the Bushmen, and their whistling speech became the speech of this union, and it was thus finally adopted by their later conquerors —the Tonga, after the manner in which the Zulus and Xosas adopted the Bushmen and Hottentot clicks.

Elseewhere throughout the territory a people resembling the Bushmen were to be found, though, the description giv­en of them by the ancient records as coming to Sofala carry-ing heavy loads*—causes one to wonder if they were,

in fact, true Bushmen. We have also to take into con­sideration the fact that it must have been, in the main, this primitive people, enslaved by the Arabs, who were used, together with the Hottentots, in the construction of

* N O T E : The P o r t u g u e s e r e c o r d s con ta in one descr ibed a s " T h e I t a l i a n Account of the Portuguese Discoveries" u n d e r date of 1505. This account states t h a t " I n f i n i t e go ld is brought t h i t h e r ( to Sofa la) f rom t h e In ter ior of Africa, by men of low s t a t u r e , but strong, many of whom are as monsters, eating human flesh, m a i n l y t h a t o f t he i r e n e m i e s ; and t h e y have smal l vo ices" .

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the Inyanga terraces and fortifications, and the thought of such heavy work performed by these little people does not quite fit in with our conception of the abilities of modern Bushmen at any rate. This leads to the thought that not only the Wak-Waks but also the other Bushmen throughout the territory were really not pure Bushmen at all, but were a short-statured people formed by an admixture of Bushmen with possibly the first Bantu—the proto-Sotho, though this union may have taken place before the arrival of the Proto-Sotho in the territory, somewhere higher up in Africa. In all probability they would also have an admixture of Hottentot blood. Bullock in his book "The Mashona and the Matebele'" mentions a short-statured people akin to the Bushmen, called Zwi-Tiki who, when he wrote, were a small remnant in the Lomagundi area. Then too, Dr. Vedder, who writes about the Tribes of South-West Africa, says that in all probabi­lity the Damara were a slave people brought into the territory at some time before the Bantu. If this is correct, then it is very possible that the Hottentots enslaved them during their sojourn in the country which is now Rhodesia. The Damara were formerly a short-statured people speaking a Hottentot dialect. They could have originated from that mixed short-statured people akin to the Zwi-Tiki, and perhaps even akin to the Wak-Waks.

While it is true to-day that the Damara, with the possible exception of the Berg-Damara are no longer short-statured people, this is to be accounted for by the fact that there has been a considerable admixture with the taller Bantu.

THE HOTTENTOTS. Concerning the Hottentots and their origin, not much

has been written, but most writers who have written about them incline to the theory that they originated as the outcome of an admixture of Egyptians with the Bushmen. In order to understand this theory, it will be acceptable to quote here from no less an authority than George McCall Theal, as he expresses himself in his work on Ethnology, He writes as follows:-

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"Hottentot traditions collected in different localities and from Individuals who could have had not intercourse with each other, carried back the history of the Hottentots to a period when they were residing in a region somewhere in the centre of the continent, from which they were driven by a more powerful people, of a black colour, who came down from the north or north-east... The dis­covery of this migration, however, does not take the people here dealt with to the still distant north where their language indicates they once lived, but there is a stronger reason to believe that the race had its origin in the country now termed Somaliland, and was formed there by the intercourse of the men of light coloured stock with the women of Bushmen blood.

Herodotus mentions that a large band of Egyptian soldiers, said by him to be two hundred and forty thousand in number, deserted and marched into Ethiopia at a date corresponding to about 650 before Christ, and were settled by the Ethiopian king as far beyond Meroe, as Meroe was beyond Elphantine. These people he term-ed the Automali or Deserters, but by succeeding writers, they are called the Sembrites or Sebritae. The locality assigned to them was in about 13 to 14 degrees north latitude, Meroe being not far above the junction of the Atbara with the Nile, or in a latitude 17 degrees north.

It is, therefore not unlikely that a small body of men... did make their way from Egypt to Somaliland, and took to themselves there, women of the Bushmen race, there being no other females for them to associate with. All the difficulties of the problem are solved by this sup­position, and to support it there are the following facts:-

1. The Egyptian picture of the Queen of Punt is seen to be a correct portrait.

2. The Hottentot language, in its structure, is north African, and yet containing the four Bushmen clicks most easily pronounced, is at once accounted for.

3. The possession by the Hottentots of horned cattle and Syrian sheep covered with hair and having very large tails is immediately explained.

4. The peculiarly shaped drilled stones found recently in considerable numbers by Germans in Somaliland, and

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now to be seen in the Museum of Berlin, which are exactly similar to those used by Hottentots in South Africa, and to one in the British Museum found in Central Africa, also support this view. The Hottentots called themselves Khoikhoi "men of men" as they prided themselves on their superiority over the savage hunters (the Bushmen), and in fact they were considered more advanced towards civilisation than the Bushmen."

In corroboration of Theal's conclusions on the Hotten­tots, here is an extract from Paver's book—"Zimbabwe Cavalcade", which brings to our attention Bushmen paint­ings depicting themselves being overcome by a different people than the little artists. We can only conclude that the people depicted were Hottentots. Here is the quota-tion—"Bushmen pictures (in Southern Africa, examined by Breuil) afford evidence that the red-haired invader ousted the Bushmen from their lairs. One painting has a curved line believed by the Abbe to indicate a cave. Below this line, and therefore within the cave, little figures of Bushmen crouch with hands outstretched in fear. Facing the entrance a large fire burns. Beyond this fire are the red-haired people. They are obviously smoking out the Bushmen...

The next picture indicates the final scene. A group of women have been separated, obviously to be incor­porated, by the attackers, while the men with their hands lashed together, are being led to the slaughter...

In another picture a group of men appears to indicate that they are participating in an initiation ceremony... Yet another painting appears to indicate a girl's school of initiation. There is a Mistress of Ceremonies and half a dozen well executed figures of girls. Each has her individual profile, Semitic and Grecian noses predominate, but there is a snub-nosed beauty, and all have long hair reaching to their shoulders... The roundness of the girl's figures is not Bushmen, nor is the hair, yet perhaps they indicate the first stages of the merger of the red-haired people with the Bushmen. There is a measure of steaopygea...

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Professor C. van Riet Lowe...in 1948...stated that he considered the (Rhodesian) painted figures to be those of foreigners, possible Egyptians.

At the time, the Abbe...stated that he considered the paintings to be much older than Zimbabwe.

In the South African Archaeological Bulletin of March 1949 the Abbe. . . wrote as follows—"It goes without say­ing that these paintings represent neither negroes nor Bushmen. Whether they are foreigners come by sea, or pre-Bantu immigrants come from inland is a question which I cannot resolve. Their pronounced Semitic noses, their long hair, the nilotic bows, the water-skins they carried and the clothing and ornaments they wore all point to a Mediterranean origin".

Now while respecting the opinions of such men as the Abbe, and Professor Van Riet Lowe, we would point out that as they arrive at no definite conclusion as to the origin of this stranger people depicted by the Bushmen, we would therefore beg to submit that everything about these foreigners to our way of thinking, points to the only safe conclusion, i.e. that the Bushmen were depicting this mixed race of Egyptian-Bushmen origin known to us as the Hottentots—at a time subsequent to their being disturbed somewhere much further north by the black race of people mentioned by McCall Theal. It is very possible, though we can produce no evidence to maintain it as an established fact, that these people of mixed race only appear to have hair of a reddish tinge because they had treated their hair in a similar fashion to the BaNyai, as recorded by Livingstone, and mentioned earlier. Living­stone remarked on the BaNyai, with their long false hair dyed red—that they reminded him of the ancient Egyp­tians. Everything else about the above-mentioned new­comers tends to point to a people of Egyptian origin, who as observed from the work of the artists, and as would be expected because of the admixture of Bushman blood, display some measure of steaopygea. Very possibly the Bushmen pictures depict what happened when the Hot­tentots first moved down into the Rhodesian area, which as the Abbe Breuil says (of the people depicted), could

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have been at a time long before the building of Zimbabwe. While each people—Bushmen and Hottentots—accord­

ing to what m a y be deduced from the Arab and Portu-guese records, appear to have had their own territories, nevertheless in general, the Bushmen and Hottentots lived almost side by side throughout the land, but where neces­sity demanded it, the Hottentots no doubt were able to assert their superiority, and make use of the Bushmen in the manner indicated earlier.

There are indeed clear indications that both Bushmen and Hottentots, occupied their own separate territories, governed by the Ameer of the Emozaid, for there was not only the Bushmen territory of the Wak-Waks, but as mentioned by Antonio Fernandes, the Bushmen in the northern area across the Hunyani River to the west had their own territorial area—that of Mompara. Even as already pointed out too, the name Butwa for the Kingdom of Torwa, suggests that it also formerly appertained to these little people, for "Batwa" is the word used by many Bantu tribes for Pygmies and Bushmen, and "Butwa" would denote their Kingdom.

The Hottentots, too, have left their memorial of their occupation of the Torwa territory in particular, as in­dicated by the many place names there ending in Que (or Kwe) and Kwa, as per Hottentot usage, as exempli­fied by Outeniqua and Namaqua in South Africa. Either que or qua (or kwa) would approximate near enough to the Hottentot name for man. Dr. H. Vedder (who sig­nificantly enough finds many Arabic words in the Nama language) gives the name for men in the Nama language, as Quai-qua This reminds us of the name of the town Que Que, which name is, we suggest, an indication of where part of the Hottentot territory was to be found.

Confirmation of where the Hottentot territory lay comes from Loveday's book "Three Stages of History in Rhodesia"—He quotes Faria y Sousa (1665-75) as stating that "the Empire of Monomotapa is bounded on the north and part of the west by the River Zambesi... in the re­maining part of the western border and the south it is bounded by the country of the Hottentots and certain Kaffirs" These Kaffirs were, we can assume, the proto-

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Sotho, who by that time, together with the Emozaid-Ba Lemba would be under Rozwi dominion.

The name Que Que aforementioned, together with similar names, provide a good example of being, possibly, the European attempt at writing Khoi-khoi, i.e "men of men" used by the Hottentots when speaking of them­selves. It should be stated here also that there exists a Bushman clan at this present time called the Gwikwe, which word is not unlike the sound of the name Gokwe, and which place is not far removed from the region where the Bushman territory of Mompara was located according to Hugh Tracey.

ARAB NAMES FOR TOWNS. Considering the derivation of names as originating with

the Hottentots and Bushmen, reminds us that in those early days when the Bushmen and Hottentots were, as we believe, the vassals of the Emozaid Arabs, as well as later throughout the "Limi" period, the capital of these Emozaid Arabs was at Sena. The name of this place was originally written as Siyouna, according to what may be deduced from the works of previously quoted Arab writers and was no doubt one of a number of Arab names brought with them from the lands of their origin, just as British settlers in modern times brought to Ame­rica, Australia and elsewhere, name of cities and towns from the lands of their origin. The name "Sena" has passed through a number of changes, for some writers in quoting the Arab writer Ibn Said, give the spelling of Sena as Sinna, which would be about the equivalent of San'a—the name of the capital of the Yemen. The Kathiri from Yemen, who settled in the Hadhramaut ap­pear to have brought this name with them to their new territory, too, and there, as the capital of their territory it became Seiyun. Then when these Yemenites came to Africa, they named the capital of their new land of Sofala, where resided the Ameer or Governor—Seyouna or Sinna, and eventually in process of time it became Sena. The old name, however, still persists as to sound, in its old form—that of Siyouna as in Shona, Mashona-land, etc.

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Another town near Sena was Boukha according to Idrisi, which name in sound is not far removed from the name Mukha—the town which gives its name to the Yemen brand of coffee. The name of this Yemen town is so written by Hitti, who also mentions the town of Zafor, 100 miles north-east of Mukha, on the road to San'a. This name Zafor seems to be reproduced in the name Fura, or Afur, as it was written formerly by the Arabs. It was the name of the place now known as Mount Darwin.

Two other towns mentioned by Idrisi which may have been of Arab origin are Djentama and Dendema. The name of the latter town is not unlike the sound of the name Dhamar, mentioned earlier in the comment on the Yemen, though one writer expresses the opinion that this name may be derived from Dema or Lema from whence comes the name of the territory of Chidima. The other town, Djentama, appears on an old map of 1626 as Iotama, and would appear to be situated on the Rhode-sian side of the Zambesi and about opposite to present-day Zumba. Another town mentioned in Arab writings is Lerana, near the mouth of the Zambesi. This name has, however, a Bantu ring about the sound of the word, and may have been one of the towns of the "Limis".

ARAB SKILL IN OPERATION. Reconstructing in our thoughts what Arabs from the

Yemen and Hadhramaut, and including also those refugees from Oman of the tribe Azd, were most likely to attempt in a new land, is to believe that they would seek to reproduce that with which they were already familiar in the lands of their origin. Thus it is not to be considered as surprising that they should attempt to bring into being —not only at Inyanga, but also in other territories further north, the terraces and irrigation furrows of their home­land, for the production of spices, and we can also believe —for coffee. That the Inyanga area was suitable for growing coffee is evidenced by the fact that it is to-day being grown successfully in this same corner of Rhodesia. Coffee, as we have seen earlier was introduced into the Yemen already by the time of Mohammed. The fortifi­cations, too at Inyanga were a simple imitation of those

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in the Yemen. The need for something more elaborate had not yet manifested itself as long as they had only the Bushmen and Hottentots to deal with, but with the advance of the Bantu down the coast, something of a more impregnable nature had to be considered, and thus there came into existence the first "Metropolis"' fortifica­tions of Great Zimbabwe, followed as soon as possible by the first walls of the "Elliptical Temple". Then at a later stage the need for more protective fortifications brought into being the other numerous Zimbabwes.

At an early date, too, some of the Arab settlers appear to have moved across the Limpopo with the Hottentots and Bushmen to exploit the copper and other minerals to be found there. Mapungubwe in that area lent itself to their requirements as a fortification without the neces­sity of building strongholds of the Zimbabwe type.

The different stages of the building art at great Zimba­bwe and elsewhere may be explained by recognising the possibility of the arrival as time went on of other later newcomers from the Yemen, better qualified in building than the earlier refugees. Then, at a later period, when the settlers were virtually cut off from their compatriots from the Yemen, deterioration in the art of building began to manifest itself with the introduction of more and more "BaSendji" blood into the Ba Lemba, who we believe, were once of that race-proud comparitively pure Arab strain from Yemen and Oman territories.

While still on the subject of these various skilled operations performed by the Arab settlers, and on the subject of Inyanga, it will not be out of place to quote here from the book by Hall and Neil—"The Ancient Ruins of R h o d e s i a " - " T h e Zaide and Mago-doxo Arab influence explains the presence of figs, vines, lemons, orange, olives, to be found in Southern Zambesia". "Many of the trees and plants found in this area—vines, figs, lemons, cotton, are not indigenous to south-east Africa, and most are of Indian origin, though most pro-bably introduced by Zaide or Magodoxo Arabs". "The influence of the Zaide or moslem Magodoxo Arabs upon the natives caused the introduction of the irrigation

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aqueducts, river dams, shelter-pits, horticultural terraces (which are not details of an African native kind) and the non-indigenous cereals, plants and fruits and trees which form the outstanding features of the Inyanga area. I have already agreed with those writers on the Bantu who consider the irrigation works, both aqueducts and dams, the shelter-pits and the hill-terraces (with the non-indigenous plants, shrubs and trees) though native labour was employed in the construction, were directly introduc­ed by either the Zaide or Magodoxo Arabs. . . Labour to an inconceivable extent was employed in cultivation of the hill-terraces and much had to come from the lower country—hence the shelters.. . The pits were once roofed over. This is evident, for the places for the poles can still be seen."

Hall's above conclusions are all the more striking in view of the fact that he was in his time a great contender for the "ancient" theory of the origin of the Zimbabwe as against those who held that Zimbabwe, the mines and Inyanga are all the work of unaided Bantu. Hall seem­ingly was forced to the conclusion on the evidence, that the Zaide Arabs (the Emozaids) were the most likely people to have originated and carried out the project of building the Inyanga terraces with native labour. This must not have been easy for him to concede as the whole tendancy of his thought lay in the direction of an "an-cient" origin for all these great undertakings.

SKELETAL REMAINS. It seems necessary at this juncture to consider what

has been stated concerning skeletal remains in the ancient gold-mining areas of Rhodesia, as well as of remains found at Inyanga and at the various Zimhabwes.

Actually very little has been written on this subject, for the very good reason that very little can be said about it owing to the fact that very few skeletal remains have been discovered. Nevertheless there are sufficient skele­tal remains found by Bent, Hall and Neil and others to confirm the belief that the ancient builders were the Emozaid Arabs now known as Ba Lemba and Ba Mwenye

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It is well known that all burials of the Bantu until recent times were with the corpse in a sitting position, whereas the burials as performed by the Ba Lemba have always been carried out with the corpse placed in a straightened-out manner. Hall and Neil record that the "ancients" found in the ruins are invariably buried at full length. These remains were found below "cemented floors" while remains of "mediaeval and kaffir peoples" were buried near the surface and many feet above those of the "ancients".

Bent records in his book "The Ruined Cities of Masho-naland", that during the progress of their excavations at Zimbabwe they unearthed a number of skeletons, but only three of these were in a straightened-out position, all the others were in the usual Bantu sitting position. Seemingly Bent did not excavate as deeply as Hall and Neil, there, and at the other Zimbabwes, and so en­countered only Bantu burials, with the exception of the aforementioned three, who were probably of the later period of deterioration in race purity of the Emozaid or Zaide Arabs—now know as Ba Lemba. Those buried below the cemented floors were of the earlier period of comparative racial purity when this Arab people was at the height of their power before the arrival of the Rozwi conquerors.

Having referred above to the investigations of Hall and Neil as recorded in "The Ancient Ruins of Zimbabwe", it will be of value here to give a fuller quotation. Com­mencing at page 100 of the aforementioned work, we read—"Most of the burials of the ancients whose remains have so far been discovered we found under the original floors of the buildings—within the ruins, and apparently directly under the inner dwellings. Two only were found just outside the main entrance at Umnukwana ruins, in the crevices of huge boulders. Certainly only a very few of the inclosures of some score of all the ruins of Rhodesia have been partially opened out and explored, and as ruins frequently have from six to ten enclosures, the possibility of coming on other very ancient remains, is very great.

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But the remains so far found within the ruins were in all probability those of the pro-consul overlords of the district in which the sovereign industry of gold-mining was carried on, or of the chief-stewards and task­masters, or of priests, who most probably resided in the immediate vicinity.

Ancients found in the ruins are buried at full length, and always either on the right or left side. Ancients were always buried under the original cemented floor, or under first or second floors, and each floor being about eighteen inches above the other. The mediaeval and modern kaffir peoples were buried near the surface and many feet above those of the ancients, between whom there are always cemented floors and several feet of soil. Again the presence of a considerable amount of solid gold ornaments, with the old Zimbabwe patterns, is an unfail­ing feature of ancient burial, while with the Mambo-Mo-nomotapa period—remains have ornaments of iron and copper, iron and brass ornaments and glass beads of an altogether modern manufacture. In the same way the pottery invariably buried with the dead of those periods greatly differs in design, and ornamentation, material and dexterity, with each succeeding period, till it becomes identical with the coarse articles made by the natives of to-day".

Hall and Neil give a list of the Zimbabwes where "re­mains of undoubted ancients have been discovered". They also give an account of something of peculiar interest in view of the place where the discovery was made—

"At Mundie over twelve other ancient remains, as well as the bones of ancients scattered about the floors were found, and at Umnukwana seven undoubted ancients were found who had not been buried. These were lying under the soil outside the entrances, evidently just in the posi­tion in which they had been slain, and with them were found their weapons, also broken bangles of solid gold, and torn bangles of gold wire, all of Zimbabwe manufac­ture and design, and worn in the same profusion as by the ancients. This evidence of conflict and defeat of the ancients, for their bodies were never buried by their compatriots...is one of the many instances showing that

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the ancients were finally driven out . . . by rising of either the bastard races, the slave population or the hostile natives of the country."

The significance of this last quotation becomes apparent when it is realised that the place of this conflict and slaughter was in the Belingwe area, for the Zimbabwes mentioned are in the neighbourhood of the hill Buhwa, which place figures so prominently in Lemba, Rozwi and Venda tradition.

The latter—the Venda tradition—according to E. Mu-ndau, and as recorded in the Ethnological Publications of the South African Government (Vol. 8) states that the Vha Senzi (Venda) and BaLemba In their journeyings together came to Vhuxwa (Buhwa) "the place of die-ing", because their king and many of them died there.

The Lemba tradition too, as recorded in the same pub­lication and as given by J. Mutenda, states that the ruler of the Ba Lemba—called MuLemba, had his great place on the hill Belingwe. The country was subject to him. The hill was spoken of as "Belingwe of the good people". They were the people who came across the sea of "Pusela". They built a large town at Belingwe in which there was no place for the BaSenzi. The Chief—MuLe-mba—whose name was Nkalahonye had a son called Ngwedzi, who succeeded him, and he in turn was suc­ceeded by his son Shimbani. The chief of the Ba Rozwi married the daughter of Shimbani. It was at this time that war broke out between the BaLemba and the Ba-Rozwi and the BaLemba were overcome by the BaRozwi.

Whether these traditions can be relied on or not, it seems evident that this place Buhwa was the scene of some great conflict between the Ba Lemba and the people of Mambo, and that the Ba Lemba acknowledge that it was here they suffered defeat. We can well believe that this tradition of defeat belongs to the time of the Ambo invasion, when Mambo and his forces finally overcame the Arab Emozaid—driving them out of their Zimbabwe strongholds, and causing the slaughter indicated by the unburied skeletons discovered by Hall.

We would suggest, however, that as sometimes happens in native tradition, two great events were mixed up and

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became one in the minds of the tribal historians. The first event, we suggest was the defeat of the Emozaid by the Ambo—the people of Mu-Ambo or Mambo. The second event occurred in the same area, when the other Ba Lemba of Mpossi, together with the Ba Senzi from the Sena area, made their way at sometime during the break-up of Monomotapa's kingdom, into Mambo's ter­ritory, to where Mambo must then have had his tribal headquarters—at Buhwa. There the Ba Lemba and the Ba Senzi were permitted to dwell side by side with the people of Mambo.

It was at this time we may surmise that the Ba Senzi and people of Mambo made royal marriage alliances, and that the two royal sons were born—one Rozwi, and the other, as some Venda historans say,—Dyambeu or Vele Lambehu. The latter became the leader of the Ba Senzi and the other became Mambo Rozwi from whom the people thereafter took their name—Ba Rozwi. Then a battle ensued between the brothers, and Rozwi with his people went northward. The Rozwi according to their tradition claim that they came from "Gunu Buhwa". They were seemingly driven from there by the Ba Senzi and Ba Lemba, whom they and the other peoples called "Ba Haka", as we have already suggested.

The Ba Venda claim that they, too, came from the Buhwa area to Vendaland. They claim also that at the time they had the Ba Karanga as their serfs, and in proof of this they state that when they came to Vendaland they forced the Ba Karanga, as tribute, to carry stones from Zimbabwe to build their own Zimbabwe at Dzata.

But the above is already a far cry from the subject of skeletal remains—so reverting to that topic—

The skeletal remains found at the Mapungubwe strong­hold to the west of Beit Bridge, tell the same story of straightened-out burials as distinct from those of the Bantu. Alongside the skeletal remains of the ancestors of the Ba Lemba were those of two Bantu chiefs buried in the usual sitting position. They were evidently chiefs of great importance because of the unusual quantity of gold ornaments which had been worn on their persons. No

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doubt, as a special honour, in view of their importance they were permitted burial in the place of honour among the dead of these Lemba-Arab people, who used Mapu-ngubwe as their fortress.

In "Zimbabwe—A Rhodesian Mystery", Roger Sum­mers tells us, as already quoted, that "no skeletons were found of the people who followed the Bushmen". They were different from the Bushmen who depicted the new­comers on the rocks in a different style from that re­served for the artists themselves.

He adds that the "high proportion of Bushmen physical traits found in later skeletons... shows that Bushmen and newcomers intermarried frequently. These newcomers as revealed by their pottery came from the general direction of East Africa".

Later, Summers in his above-mentioned book says "no skeletal remains were found in Phase 2 (or indeed in any other phase at Zimbabwe, but elsewhere a good many burials of a similar period have been unearthed. At Mapungubwe (in the area called K2.) Gardner has des­cribed the people as "Hottentot", from other sites they have been described by physical anthropologists as "Bush Boskopoid"... We have a good deal of evidence which helps us to trace the various mining groups across South­ern Rhodesia from Inyanga in the North East to Bula-wayo and Mapungubwe in the south-east. We are on good ground, too, when we point to these people as having given rise first to the Sotho, and finally to all the Bantu speaking groups in the Republic of South Africa."

Finally, Summers writes "graves near Bulawayo exa­mined by Robinson and me have contained skulls which remind us more of Modern Kalanga than anything else". This statement Summers made is akin to one by Sir A. Keith concerning certain skeletal remains submitted to him, some of which were found in ancient mine workings. Keith comments that the remains which he examined were typically Bantu resembling those of Zulus or any of the well-known Bantu tribes.

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Such statements, of course, do not contradict or invali­date what has been written above concerning the fore­going conclusions of Roger Summers, which agree per­fectly with what has been written here concerning the periods when the Bushmen and Hottentots worked in their time, under Emozaid direction, or the later period, when the Sotho, as represented by the Ghoya, held sway under the Ameer and his Arab Emozaids.

Even if it is contended that the skeletal remains found in ancient mine working, were of a period prior to 1450, this would still be in keeping—for the Proto-Sotho —the Ghoya were, of course, also Bantu, though we would expect to find that they manifested a Bushman admixture.

In the above connection, we have been extremely in­terested to learn recently that skeletons of Bantu found in an ancient mine-working in the Fort Rixon area, when submitted to the C.14 test—revealed a date of approxi­mately 1200 AD.

If the other skeletal remains mentioned above were of the period after 1450, this would only indicate that the succeeding Bantu tribes tried in their turn to bring to the surface some of the riches to be found underground. One would imagine that the period when these Bantu whose skeletons were found, and who were engaged in mining the ancient workings—could only really be deter­mined by the C.14 test also, and one wonders why this was not resorted to, so as to ascertain the ages of the skeletons, and to which period they belonged.

The fact that no Arab skeletal remains were found in the ancient mine workings need occasion no surprise to those who believe that the Arabs had control of the mines, for apart from "going below" occasionally to give orders, the Arabs were not likely to endanger themselves in the underground operations, when they could com­mand those who worked for them to do this work, just as effectively from the surface. They, no doubt, were more interested in waiting above ground for what the miners produced. Even though they occasionally ventured below ground, this would be most unlikely to

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be productive of skeletal remains from any rare disaster which might have overtaken the occasional one who died in the accident. How many skeletons of Europeans will the future reveal when the mine workings on the Rand in South Africa become ancient, even though the propor­tion of Europeans to Africans is infinitely greater than that of the Arabs to those who worked for them in the mines of "the Land of Gold?"

THE ANCIENT MINES. According to d'Alcacova in his letter to the King of

Portugal—all the gold was to be found in the territory of the Ameer, who was we believe the Ameer of the Emo-zaid, who resided at Sena. Nevertheless, d'Alcacova did say that gold was also to be found in Monomotapa's ter­ritory, but in much smaller quantities.

Before considering where the gold was to be found in the Ameer's territory let as ascertain from the various records the location of the ancient gold mines taken over by Monomotapa after his invasion. In doing so, it is well to remember that most, if not all the ancient gold-workings in that territory must have been in operation when the whole land was controlled by the Emozaid Arabs, together with the Paramount Chief Shangamire of the Ghoya.

Apart from the fact that from the date of the earliest writings the land we call Rhodesia was known as the "Land of Gold", the first actual reference to a specific place in connection with gold is that of Ibn Battutah, who tells us that gold dust was brought to Sofala from Yufe —a distance of some 30 days travel from Sofala. Now, as there seems to be little reason to doubt that Yufe was Mazofe, this would be the approximate time it would take for this journey allowing of a distance of 15 miles per day and travelling along what is now the present motor car route from Beira to Salisbury, and allowing for the extra distance from Salisbury to Mount Darwin, as well as from Sofala to the motor car route on the Beira road. It is generally reckoned that 15 miles per day is a fair journey when travelling with laden carriers while on safari. The identification of Yufi with Mazofe is strengthened when we take into consideration that

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Yufi is stated by Ibn Battutah to be the principal native town, and that it was here that the chief town of the BaNyai appeared to be, as has been pointed out earlier. Then too, Mazofe has always been regarded as the gate­way to the northern gold producing area. It was in this area too, that gold dust was procured from the rivers. This was still the case in Livingstone's day, according to his notes. The mention by Fernandes of gold from the banks of rivers in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom is due no doubt to the fact that quartz was usually crushed there, as evidenced in that territory by the many holes in rocks by the riversides where this operation was performed.

It would appear from Antonio Fernandes' account of his journey that gold was to be found in a number of places in the Kingdom of Monomotapa. Thus from south going north to Monomotapa's capital, he mentions that Manica had great supplies of gold, that Amcoce also was very rich in gold. Then he mentions that in Inyapera-pera's country gold was found everywhere. As there is reason to believe that Inyaperapera was the territory afterwards known as that of Mo-ngaz, we may well suppose that the gold of this region was not readily accessible to Monomotapa. The next gold-producing place mentioned by Fernandes was Mazofe, and concerning it Fernandes says that much gold was to be found here. He then adds that where Monomotapa resides is the greatest source of gold—and presumably this would be Mount Fura—now Mount Darwin—where gold is mined even today.

Fernandes next makes mention of the Butwa-Torwa territory which he says is very rich in gold. These riches, however, were not available to either Manomotapa or the Portuguese, for Fernandes tells us that this kingdom was at war with Monomotapa and that its ruler was as great as the "Emperor".

Fernandes tells us next that both gold and copper were to be found in the territory of Mobara (or Mompara) but whose territory appears to have been part of the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, and therefore also inaccessible to Mono­motapa.

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Femandes, later mentions Quitege and Baro, as also be­ing rich in gold, but as these places are also believed by some writers to be part of the Butwa-Torwa kingdom, they would consequently be of no benefit to Monomotapa.

This survey of Fernandes thus indicates seemingly only three gold-producing areas available to Monomo-tapa. So one can well understand the anxiety of d'Alca-cova, when he writes to his king that "the gold, Sir, is all found in the territory of the A m e e r . . . the gold does not go out of the kingdom (Torwa's) to Vealanga, ex­cept through Sofala". Even this southern route to So-faia was soon to be denied to Monomotapa, for the records state that around 1520, the chief Inyamuda, who resided near Sofala was engaged in hostilities against Monomotapa, and against the people of Manica and other Monomotapan allies. This chief Inyamuda according to the records, who lived near Sofala, was it may be ac­cepted resident at the place called Muda, which may be seen as a railway station on the route from Umtali to Beira, and just a short distance from the latter place. On a good map Muda will be seen as being on the river Muda. It is very likely that this river gave its name to the chieftainship of Inyamuda. It is recorded in the Portuguese records that by 1527 he was in control of all the land round Sofala and was increasing in power, according to Silveira and later to d'Almeida.

Mention was made earlier on of the territory of Mongaz, which territory appears according to Dos Santos to have been rich in gold and silver mines. This state­ment of Dos Santos is quoted by a Major Erskine who is mentioned by Stewart in "The Ancient Gold Fields of Africa". One doubts the accuracy of Dos Santo's statement with regard to silver mines. These were eagerly sought by the Portuguese, who endeavoured to get Monomotapa to reveal their whereabouts. It would appear, however, that silver was to be found only in the Beza-Chidima area, at a hill called "Nobery".

Stewart also quotes Batelho concerning the where­abouts of the Ancient Goldfields. Batelho mentions ten areas, and two are in the Manica territory. Several places are across the Zambesi in Portuguese territory

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As mentioned elsewhere he also speaks of the gold mines in the Butwa territory of the Emperor Shangamire and appears to indicate not only Tolwa's Kingdom, but also that of Mongaz.

Mention above of the gold-workings of the "Emperor" Shangamire to the South East of the Zambesi reminds us that R. N. Hall records finding ancient mines on the Lupata mountains near the Lupata Gorge. This area was undoubtedly in the territory of Mongaz, and this would confirm Dos Santo's statement about gold mines in that area, and also bear out Batelho's account.

Near here, too, in Mongaz territory, Hall found an­cient ruins and terraces on and around the hill Nyaka-fura. These ruins in all probability were of one of the ancient forts (now called Zimbabwes) which lay on the route referred to traditionally as "Njila ya Ba-zungu" i.e. the path of the whitemen" (Arabs) which ran from Sena to Mazofe the gateway to the northern gold producing area.

It would seem from the Portuguese records that much of the gold, if not all, which was produced in the Ameer's territory was brought to Sena, from whence it would be carried down the Zambesi in Zambucos and then across to the Angosha Islands for transhipment, possibly to Yemen and India. The Portuguese were so incensed about this leakage by this route, of what they looked on as their preserves, that they launched an attack on the Angosha Islands in the year 1561.

The Portuguese however, suffered a much greater loss in the year 1602 for in that year the King of Portu-gal wrote to his Viceroy of India that "the Cabires, a warlike tribe, were in possession of the mines of Chicova, and the principal mines of the Kingdom of Monomotapa".

Of the mines in the Butwa-Torwu Kingdom very little can be ascertained from the records.

Mention has already been made of the statements of Fernandes concerning the gold of this territory, that it was very plentiful. De Barros writing in 1552 stated that the oldest gold mines were in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. Apart from these few references, what is

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known of the ancient gold workings in that Kingdom is derived from investigations made in modern times, and particularly from investigations of R. N. Hall.

Now while Hall seemingly is not to be considered as an archaeologist, nevertheless Summers, who describes Hall as a freelance journalist of antiquarian tastes, feels that "Hall's observations as distinct from his inter­pretations and conclusions were unexpectedly reliable".

Hall tells us that the same methods of working were adopted in every single mine, and as there were seeming­ly literally thousands of these ancient mine workings, this is something particularly noteworthy in that it in­dicates a central control of operations that would militate against the thought that these mines were worked by several different African tribes left to their own initia­tive. There is no doubt, even as Hall points out, that slave-labour, or even paid labour derived from the Bantu peoples dwelling in the territory, and possibly from Hottentots and Bushmen before their arrival, pro­vided the actual miners and labour force necessary, under Arab direction.

These ancient mines are stated to have gone down to a depth of well over a hundred feet in many cases, and gold reefs were followed for amazing distances underground, some for almost 6 miles and according to Hall "were worked with shafts, vertical and incline, and adits, the pillars of reef left to support the roof, still remaining. Of the quartz removed to the surface to be hand-crushed, Hall quotes several authorities who esti­mate that there must have been at least 20 million tons of quartz produced from these ancient mines. It was estimated, also that over 600 tons of gold was extracted, after the quartz had been crushed, and the resultant ore put through the process of purification.

The method used for smelting the gold still in vogue on the arrival of the Portuguese, must have been that which prevailed prior to that time and when the Arabs were in control. d'Alcacova describes this method as follows:—"the mixture of gold and earth was heated in vessels which separated the gold in pure form". This

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method, as we might expect, was similar to that in oper­ation among the BaLemba as described by themselves— it was done in large earthenware pots containing the ore, and the pots were placed over an earthern furnace, the blast for which was supplied by cow-hide bellows. It is interesting to learn that this was the method also used by the ancient Egyptians, and the ancestors of the Arabs from the Yemen, probably derived it from them.

One thing is certain that of all the peoples at present in Rhodesia, the Ba Lemba are the most likely to have been the gold-miners. The Ba Lemba are known to have been the copper-miners of Messina even up to com­paratively recent times, and unless it can be proved that the ancient gold-mines of Rhodesia were worked by a people in the time preceding the Mohammedan era, then it must be acknowledged that the Emozaid Arabs represented today by the Ba Lemba, are the only people competent to have operated the ancient gold-mines.

At the same time it should be recognised that the other Arabs in opposition to the Emozaid, who were numerous in the Kingdom of Monomotapa, would take advantage of their opportunities in that Kingdom to direct the mining operations there to their own enrich­ment, when permitted to do so.

To round off this consideration of the ancient gold workings we cannot do better than quote from Theodore Bent's book "Ruined cities of Rhodesia", where in his account of his "Exploration Journeys in Mashonaland" he mentions visiting some of these workings some twenty five miles from Salisbury in the Mazoe district. He writes, "The first set of old workings which we visited, consisted of rows of vertical shafts, now filled up with rubbish, sunk along the edge of the auriferous reef, and presumably, from instances we saw later, communicating with one another by horizontal shafts below. We saw several instances of sloping and horizontal shafts all pointing to considerable engineering skill. It must have been ages since these were worked, for they are all filled nearly to the surface with debris, and huge machabel trees, the largest in the vicinity are growing

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out of them. We then proceeded to some old workings about a mile and a half off on the hill slopes. One vertical shaft which had been cleared out for us was fifty-five feet deep. Down this we went with consider­able difficulty and saw for ourselves the ancient tool-marks and the smaller horizontal shafts which connected the various holes bored into the gold-bearing quartz.

I am told that near Hartley Hills some of these old workings go down even to a greater depth, and that one has been cleared out to the depth of eighty feet, proving incontestably that the ancient workers of these mines were not content with mere surface work, but followed the reef with the skill of a modern miner.

All above here the ground is honeycombed with old shafts of a similar nature, indicated now by small round depressions in straight lines along the reef where dif­ferent shafts had been sunk; in fact, the output of gold in centuries gone by must have been enormous...

There are ruins here similar to those at Zimbabwe, and the old workings in the Tate district. These old workings and ruins extend for miles and miles up the Mazoe valley, numerous old shafts are to be found at Hartley Hills and on the Mswezwe River, near Fort Victoria and in the immediate vicinity of Zimbabwe the prospectors have lately brought to light the same features; everywhere in short, where the pioneer pros­pectors have as yet penetrated, overwhelming proof of the extent of the industry is brought to light.

Mr. E. A. Maund thus speaks of the old workings in the Mswezwe district; "On all sides there was testimony of the enormous amount of work that had been done by the ancients for the production of gold. Here as on the Mazoe and at Umtali, tens of thousands of slaves must have been at work taking out the softer parts of the casing of the reefs, and millions of tons have been overturned in their search for gold".

In all these places, too, as in the Mazoe valley, especial­ly down by the streams, are found crushing-stones, some in long rows, suggesting the idea that the gold had been worked by gangs of slaves chained together

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in rows, after the fashion depicted on the Egyptian monuments... We were shown traces (at Mazoe) of a cement smelting furnace similar to the one we discover­ed in the fortress at Zimbabwe, showing that all the various processes of gold-production, crushing, washing and smelting were carried on, on the spot".

Bent states that near the ancient mine workings in the Mazoe area, he visited an ancient ruin. He writes that "the ruin is a small ancient fort, built as usual, on a granite kopje, and constructed with courses of wonder-ful regularity, equal to what we term the best period of Zimbabwe architecture. . . It was obviously built as a fort to protect the miners of the district, and is a link in the chain of evidence which connects the Zimbabwe ruins with the old workings scattered over the country".

Bent tells us that further up the Mazoe valley near Chipadzi's kraal is another ruin where old workings are very numerous and where as many as 75 crushing stones have been counted on one single claim. The courses of the wall of this ruin are as regular as the ruins of Zimbabwe. He remarks that the natives there could tell nothing about the ruins, nor did they attach any special interest to them. In fact, Bent indicates that apart from constituting the labour forces as slaves to work these mines the natives were in his estimation in­capable of themselves to undertake the skilled engineer­ing required for their operation. He quotes several Arab writers concerning the native population to show that the Bantu only came into the territory shortly before the time of the Arab geographer Masoudi who wrote around 960 A.D.

One Arab writer Zannedinn Omar Ibn I'Wardi is quoted by Bent concerning the appearance of the first Bantu to appear in the territory adjoining the "Low Land of Gold"—"Sofala 't il Dhab". From I'Wardi's description, these Zinji, as he calls them appear to resemble the present day Makua rather than what we know of the proto-Sotho who actually entered the ter­ritory in Masoudi's time. He writes that "their habita­tions extend from the extremity of the Gulf to Sofala 't

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il Dhab" and remarks on a peculiarity of theirs, namely, that they sharpen their teeth and polish them to a point". He goes on to say; "Sofala 't il Dhab adjoins the eastern borders of the Zinj". Thus far from Mr. Bent's quotation from I'Wardi. We would remark again in passing that this above statement should be noted, as indicating that the Zanj had not yet penetrated into the Land of Gold—Sofala 't il Dhab. the latter country is stated to be "on the eastern borders of the Zinj". Then Masoudi, who m e n t i o n s the advent of the Zinj, seems to differentiate also be­tween the Land of Sofala, and the country of the Zanj, for from the manner in which Bent quotes Masoudi, the people who filed their teeth and were cannibals were "natives of the land behind Sofala". Are we to suppose therefore, from these quotations that a people akin to the Makua were in the territory adjoining Sofala territory, and that the Proto-Sotho-Limis came direct into the Sofala territory in Masoudi's day. It does seem that this is correct, judging by the wording of these Arab accounts. These Proto-Sotho-Limis were the leading Bantu people in the territory under the Emozaid Overlords until the coming of the Ba Tonga and Ba Kalanga under the Monomotapa's leadership and rule.

THE KINGDOM OF MONOMOTAPA. Before going on to speak of Monomotapa's "Empire" and

of the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, it seems necessary to give where possible the dates and also a summary of the main events occurring in these kingdoms. 1493 War between Monomotapa Mokomba and Shanga-

mire and his overlord—whose title was Ameer or Governor. The Monomotapa was killed by the Ameer, who then reigned peacefully for four

1497 years till, 1497, when Mokomba's son, Kwe-kary-nugo and his people fought the Ameer, who was killed. The war was carried on by the Ameer's relative Tolwa, and a son of the Ameer, against Monomotapa Kwekarynugo, or Kwesarinuto, as his name was variously written.

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1505 Around 1505 Kwesarinuto sues for peace, but Tolwa refuses and the war continues. The Portu-guese are anxious that the war should end so that gold may come again to Sofala, as almost all the gold is found in the territory of the Ameer and round about it, and because of the war the flow of gold had ceased.

1514 In 1514 Fernandes visits the Kingdom of Mono-motapa and finds that Monomotapa, who is said to be called Mbiri, resides at Kamangaia where he is building a fort of stone. Beyond Monomotapa's territory Fernandes came to the territory of the king of Butua (Tolwa's territory) which was ten days from Monomo­tapa. The king of Butua waged ceaseless war with Monomotapa. Fernandes adds that the "King of Butua is as great as the King Monomotapa". Another Chief visited by Fernandes at a distance of five days from Monomotapa was Inhoque who was also at war with Monomotapa. Tracey says that this area is Upper Nyokwa in the Arcturus district. Another Chief Nhaquiro had his territory near the Lupata gorge about 30 miles from the Zambesi, where on Portuguese maps is shown Nyaquiro—this was the territory of the renowned Mongaz of later fame, so perhaps Nyakwiro was the name of this chief at that time and Mongaz was his title—i.e 'Mono Ghoya".

1519 In 1519 the Chief Inyamuda, who resides near Sofala (at Muda) was engaged in hostilities against Monomotapa, and against the people of Manica and other Monomotapan allies.

1561 In 1561 the Monomotapa was a mere youth and his half-brother was in revolt against him. Tshi-pute, this half brother took the title Kiteve, and

was in possession of a broad tract of territory along the coast from Sofala to the Tendakula river. In the year 1561—Manomotapa, to keep the friend­ship of the Portuguese was baptised with 300 of his councillors. He, later in the year, on the 16th March, having listened to Arab councillors—mur-

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dered the missionary Dom Goncales. In this same year, the Portuguese, in order to stop the flow of gold from the Tolwa Kingdom by this route, fought against the natives of the Angosha islands. In this year also came Ningoaxane from Cuama (Zambesi) seeking to excuse the death of the missionary Goncales.

1570 In this year "there came upon the country of Mocambique such an inundation of Kaffirs that they could not be numbered". These were the Marabi or Malawi.

1572 In this year the Portuguese Commander Baretta led an expedition against Mongaz. Mongaz and his forces were defeated.

1576 Fernando Homen wrote to Luys da Sylva—"A Fazenda meo caminho, chequei as terras de Bire que he hum vassalo do Monomotapa seu pouco amigo, a qual ja sabia a que Ihe havia feito"... which record seems to indicate that there was an Mbire at that time who was a vassal of Monomo­tapa.

1587 Monomotapa at this time bore the title of Mambo also, as reported by Dos Santos who resided at that time at Sofala. He says that Mambo was well-disposed towards the Portuguese and that he gave the Dominicans leave to establish missions at Masapa, Luanze and Bukoto.

1587 At this time also it is reported that goods were conveyed from Tete to three stations in the Kata­nga territory. No white man or black trader could pass Masapa—the most important of these stations, without permission of the Portuguese Chief in charge, or from Monomotapa himself. This chief of Masapa, though a native, was also a Portuguese official.

1589 Dos Santos reported that at this time the Mumbos, and the far-dreaded Mazimba, both cannibal peoples, were still across the Zambesi from Rho-

1593 desia. In 1593 they commenced their terrible raids. 1597 A strong tribe on the border of Ba Kalanga ter­

ritory under its Chief Chunzo made war on the Monomotapa Gasilusere.

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1602 In this year "The Cabires, a warlike tribe, were in possession of the mines of Chicova, and the principal mines of the Kingdom of Monomotapa" wrote the King of Portugal to his Viceroy in India.

1604 A great horde of babarians called Cabires by the Portuguese had entered the territory of Monomo­tapa and were laying it waste. The Monomotapa being weak was in terror, so the Portuguese Cap­tain Lourenco da Brito went to his assistance, but was defeated with the loss of ten or twelve Portu­guese, and part of his stores.

1606 At about this time the BaKaranga under the lead­ership of Matuzianye rebelled against Monomota­pa Gasilusere, who was a drunken and cruel tyrant. The revolt was quelled by the aid of the Portuguese.

1607 Monomotapa Gasilusere surrendered all the mines in his territory to the Portuguese, on condition that they would maintain him in his position as Monomotapa.

1608 Monomotapa Gasilusere was defeated by a combin­ed force of Karanga rebels and the people of Mongaz. The Portuguese Commander Madeira res­cued Monomotapa, who for safety removed to Chi-dima. In 1609 the Portuguese gave Monomotapa a bodyguard of 30 soldiers.

1628 Gasilugere's son, Kapranzine, now Monomotapa, revolts against the Portuguese who support his near relative Manuza, whom the Portuguese de­clare Monomotapa. He takes the name of Phillipe.

1631 Kapranzine's revolt which flared up frequently is finally quelled in this year. Kapranzine was sup­ported in his rebellion by Tshikanga—ruler of Manika and by other powerful chiefs, one was Makamoasha.

1652 Phillipe—(the Monomotapa supported by the Por­tuguese) dies In this year.

1667 Report on the development of "Prazos", which were virtual kingdoms under Portuguese adventur-

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ers. The Prazos occupied territory from Chicova on the Zambesi in almost a straight line right through to Sofala, extending also to the sea. One of the largest of these kingdoms included the whole of Mongaz's territory. It was owned by one Manuel de Pinho.

1693 Possell quotes two writers who state that in this year the BaKaranga were conquered by the Ba Rozwi. This statement was based on a recently discovered manuscript in the Lisbon Archives.

1700 Pedro, the Monomotapa at this time was supported by the Portuguese, and given a bodyguard, because the Kalanga tribe was broken into fragments.

1774 The country of Kiteve was overrun by a horde from the north.

1800 At the close of the 18th century, all vestiges of Portuguese influence in Karanga country had dis­appeared. Tribes of earlier days were broken up, except for that of Kiteve which lasted till 1803.

1835 Batelho, the Poruguese Governor wrote in this year describing where the different ancient mines were to be found. He mentions the Abutwa and Sinyate mines of the "Emperor Shangamire". This quotation indicates that although the Monomota-pa's BaKalanga kingdom had disintegrated the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom remained intact. Theal states that Shangamire, called "Emperor" by the Portuguese, was much more powerful than Mono-motapa. A summary of events occurring in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom of Shangamire will be given later, before commenting on events In that Kingdom more fully.

From the above extracts from the Records, it becomes abundantly clear that the "Great Emperor" Monomotapa, his splendid palace, and vast "Empire" was something which merely existed in the imagination of the Portu­guese writers, who gave too literal a credence to the typical African mode of praise accorded their chiefs. The "Degredado" Antonio Fernandes had no doubt about the matter, however, for he stated clearly that the King of

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Butwa "who is always at war with Monomotapa, is as great as the King Monomotapa." MONOMOTAPA AND THE BAKALANGA

In considering Monomotapa and his BaKalanga sub-jects, it will be remembered that the name of the place of residence of the Emperor "tallied" with that given by Fernandes in his account given some eight years later. The only real change seems to be in the name of Monomotapa, which if one understands Fernandes correctly was "Mbiri". If the name of this Monomotapa was Mbiri, then we must ask ourselves what happened in the interval to the young King Kwesarinuto. The Portuguese records are silent concerning any change, and it is probably because of this seeming change in such a short space of time that Tracey, as mentioned earlier, with other writers, is led to believe that "Mbiri must have been the first chief of the foreign Ba Rozwi. The name "Mbiri" however, is more suggestive of the Cabire people, of historically, almost a century later. It doesn't seem feasible that they, much less the Ba Rozwi, could be on the scene at such an early date. The actual quotation concerning Fernandes' visit as given earlier, states that "From Mazofe Fernandes made his way to Mbire, and axelson mentions Mbire as a place which Fernandes declares was a fortress of the king, Monomo­tapa. It seems, therefore, from the quotation, that Mbire must be regarded as the name of the place where the fortress Kwa Manyaya was being built, and not the name of the king, Monomotapa.

Perhaps the first real indication of a change over from Kalanga rulership is to be found in the writings of the Dominican Friar, Dos Santos, who states under date of 1587 that "the Monomotapa of that time also bore the title Mambo". Now since this "Mambo" Mono­motapa makes his appearance shortly after the murder of the missionary Dom Goncales (16th March, 1561), and even though the Portuguese records are silent con­cerning such, it may be surmised that some kind of punitive expedition, would be sent by the Portuguese and that they may have deposed Monomotapa the mur­derer. In this connection under date 1576 the writing of Fernando Homen has been quoted in Portuguese and mentions an Mbire who though a vassal of Monomotapa,

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was regarded as a friend of the Portuguese. He and his clan may have been forerunners of the Mbiri people, who at a later date were to enter the territory in such numbers. The statement concerning them by the King of Portugal says that in 1602 they were already in pos­session of the mines of Chicova and of the principal mines of the Kingdom of Monomotapa—this indicating, we may believe, that they had crossed the Zambesi at a much earlier date. It is therefore possible that the Mbire mentioned by Homen may have been one of their earlier chiefs who "took over" or was given the kingdom. The title "Mambo" is one which was in common use among the tribes across the Zambesi. In fact one of these tribes is referred to by Dos Santos as the "Mu-mbos" i.e. the people of the Mambo.

It may be gathered that the period referred to between the years 1560 and 1600 was one of great chaos and dis­order in the Kingdom of Monomotapa. Powerful tribal forces were gathering across the Zambesi and by 1570 the Malawi, called Marabi by the Portuguese—entered the territory of Mozambique as "an inundation that could not be numbered." The present country of Malawi gets its name from them. Then about 1593, or about 20 years after the Malawi inundation came the invasion of the terrible BaZimba people, accompanied at the same time by the "Mumbos", or Ambo as their correct name would appear to be.

This raid of the cannibal BaZimba was followed in 1597 by a raid on Monomotapa's Kingdom by a powerful tribe on the border under a chief named Tshunzo, who made war on Monomotapa, and according to Theal "sent two strong armies into his territory." One of these ar­mies under Tshunzo's Nduna, Kapempo, marched as far as Masapa, but retrealed on learning that an immense Karanga force under Ningomosha—the Monomotapa's general-in-chief was rapidly approaching. In retreating Kapampo adopted what is known today as the scorched earth policy, so that Ningomosha was unable to follow him. The Monomotapa of the time, Gasilusere by name, who was a cruel tyrant, addicted to "dagga", put his general to death for failing to follow the enemy.

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Later the MaKaranga were engaged in war with the the other division of Tshunzo's force under the Nduna Tshikanda, who was defeated by the aid of the Portu­guese.

Around 1602 came the invasion of the "Cabires", so called by the Portuguese chroniclers. No doubt these were the Mbiri people, who had possessed themselves already of all the mines of Chicova, as well as the princi­pal mines of the whole Kingdom. Many of them must have settled in the Chicova area, for Livingstone found them still there in his day in territory adjoining that of the Ngai. These Mbiri laid waste the Kingdom and even the Portuguese Captain de Brito who came to oppose them was defeated, with the loss of a number of Portuguese and some of his stores.

About this time, during this period of unrest and disruption, a revolt broke out amongst the BaKaranga against the Monomotapa Gasilusere, and the rebels under their leader Matuzianye became masters of nearly the whole country. The revolt was eventually partially quel­led by the aid of the Portuguese, and Monomotapa then, in August 1607 gave a grant of land to the Portuguese leader, and ceded all the mines in his territory to the King of Portugal on condition that he would be main­tained by the Portuguese in his position.

In 1608 Monomotapa attacked the Chief Mongasi, who had up to then remained neutral. On the death of their chief—his people now sided with the rebels under Matu­zianye and Monomotapa was defeated and reduced to desperate straits. He was wounded and his son killed. Once again however, the Portuguese under Madeira came to his assistance, and the rebel leader was defeated and afterwards was assassinated. Monomotapa at this time, about 1609, removed his capital to Chidima, where he hoped to be safe by being near the Europeans. He was given a bodyguard of 30 soldiers. It was in this Chidima area, near Chicova, that Livingstone finds the Monomotapa, Katalosa, of his day, whom he described as powerless and even though bolstered up by the Portu­guese, he actually "acknowledges the supremacy of the Chief Nyatewe".

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On the death of Monomotapa, Gasilusere, his son Ka-pranzine inherited the Kingdom. This man, who was not over intelligent, nevertheless bitterly opposed the Portuguese, who befriend and promote a near relative of his—Manuza or Movura; which friendship incurs Ka-pranzine's extreme jealousy.

In 1628 Kapranzine rebels and orders all Portuguese to be slaughtered, and by the element of surprise he massacred nearly all the Europeans and halfbreeds in the country. He gained control of the country and many of the Portuguese Bantu subjects went over to his side. Later on, however, Manuza or Phillipe, to give him his new name as a baptised convert, and who was proclaimed Monomotapa by the Portuguese, managed with Portu­guese help to defeat Kaprinzine. The latter, however, later returns to the struggle aided by a very able and powerful chief named Makomoasha, with many others of less note,—but to no avail, for in the final battle in 1631, Phillipe Manuza was completely victorious.

During the struggle, it was said that the Arabs, scat­tered about in Kapranzine's territory, aided him against the Portuguese, but after his defeat they were reduced to abject circumstances, it was not found possible to expel them. One can surmise that these Arabs were from Kilwa and of the sect who were in opposition to the Emozaid. The Emozaid apart from some at Sena were not to be found in the Kingdom of Monomotapa, they being a part of the Butwa Kingdom, which was always, in the earlier times at least, at war with Monomotapa. Monomotapa Phillipe died early in 1642. His son, who inherited the Kingdom as a young man, at first refused to become a Catholic, but eventually in that same year capitulated and consented to be baptised with a number of his sub-chiefs. He took the name of Domingos. Around this time rewards of part of the territory per­taining mainly to the vassal Tonga tribes, were granted to different Portuguese adventurers until by 1667 these grants had developed into what were virtually small kingdoms. These territories were known as "Prazos", which were governed by their Portuguese owners on the lines of native chieftainships, of which the owner was the

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chief and ruler. One of the largest of these, owned by Manuel Paez de Pinho, actually included among his sub-jects, according to Theal, the whole of the old tribe of Mongazi.

We glean further from Theal that concerning this development of these Prazos Fr. Manuel Barretto of Sena reported to the Viceroy that nearly the whole ter­ritory formed by the river Zambesi, the sea coast, and a straight line from Chicova to Sofala was held by indi­vidual Portuguese rulers.

Thus the once famous "Empire of Monomotapa" be­came gradually less and less in extent as time went on, and Monomotapa's own powers of rulership also became more and more curtailed, until eventually as Theal re­ports in his "History of South Africa before 1795"— "in the beginning of the eighteenth century it became necessary by the express order of the King of Portugal to make an effort to support the Monomotapa to the extent that he was given a bodyguard." Theal adds that "he (Monomotapa) was now always of necessity a nominal Christian. The name of the man who held the position at that time was Pedro, But little more than the title remained to him, for the old tribe was broken into frag­ments, each absolutely independant of the others. The succession had of late been nearly always disputed, and the majority of those who claimed to be the heirs had met with violent deaths."

Theal ends this account of the Empire of Monomotapa by remarking that "at the close of the eighteenth cen­tury . . . all vestiges of the influence once exercised by the Portuguese in the Karanga country had disappeared. The Bantu tribes, of the earlier days had been broken up and the ancient titles had been forgotten except that of Kiteve, which remained till 1803 when the Chief Fika—the last who bore it, died".

One reference by Theal to the Kingdom of Shanga-mire, which has already been quoted, and which has considerable significance, is repeated here as follows "A clan under a Chief named Tshangamire was much more powerful than the one that remained to the

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Monomotapa. In a war between them a considerable number of Portuguese were made prisoners by Tshangamire and they were kept under guard for several years until they were finally ransomed by the Ecclesiastical authorities of Mozambique". Theal had remarked, as previously mentioned, on the paucity of in­formation concerning this Kingdom saying that neither the Portuguese nor the BaKalanga nor the meandering Mohammedans knew anything about it. Unfortunately, he appears to have missed an earlier record of the year 1693—a recently discovered manuscript in the Lisbon Archives, according to Posselt, who quotes two writers who state that this manuscript records that the Va-Karanga were conquered by the BaRozwi in 1693. This is, therefore, the time mentioned by Theal who says, as quoted above, that at the beginning of the eighteenth century, "But little more than the title remained to Mo-nomotapa for the old tribe was broken into fragments".

It is surely significant that until 1693 the whole long period of Monomotapa's history is devoid of any mention of the BaRozwi, though different invasions are recorded carefully in the Portuguese records. The explanation seems fairly obvious i.e. that the BaRozwi come into power, and held sway, not in the Monomotapa Kingdom, but in the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom only, up till 1693. One other thing which becomes apparent from the Portuguese Records is the tremendous influence exercised by the Arabs on the different Monomotapa's and their kingdom. It is evident that the many Arabs (called "Moors" by the Portuguese) found throughout Monomotapa's King­dom, because of this influence, constituted a continual source of annoyance to the Portuguese.

In the beginning the Portuguese sought to gain the assistance of the Arabs to further their adventures in the interior, but all to no avail, in spite of the expendi­ture of money and gifts.

These Arabs undoubtedly, were not of the Zaidi sect, but of their enemies—who held sway, not only at Kilwa, but also up and down the coast from Mombasa to Sofala. They must have penetrated into the interior at a very

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early date, for recent discoveries at a burial ground at a place called Ingombe Ilede, seventy miles from Lusaka and near Kariba show that Arabs had been engaged in trade in that area at least 1,000 years ago, (Their long sojourn among the BaKaranga accounts for the incidence of many BaKaranga having a Semitic appearance).

It is possible too, as pointed out elsewhere, that these Kilwa Arabs had inspired the Tonga-Karanga invasion, for the policy of these Arabs appears always to have been one of indirect rule, by using different native tribes to further their own ends, as evidenced by their dealings in the more-recent past with the Bemba people, and others, in the territory now known as Zambia.

Be that as it may, there is no doubt about the part played by these Arab enemies of the Emozaid within the Kingdom of Monomotapa. It is a fact of history that they were the councillors of the newly-baptised Monomo­tapa, who put the missionary Dom Goncales to death in 1561.

Thereafter there were many attempts made by the Portuguese with succeeding Monomotapa's to have the "Moors" expelled, or else to put them to the sword. But all these attempts seemed to end in failure. It is recorded that after the Kapranzine rebellion, in which Kapranzine was supported by the Arabs - though a fresh

attempt was made to expel them—the "Moors" were still to be found in the Kingdom, though in such reduced circumstances that they were barely able to eke out a miserable existence.

It seems however, that brighter times were in store for them with the Rozwi "take over" of the Kingdom (circa 1690) for there is some evidence that Shangamire Mambo, for purposes of prestige, engaged them to repair some of the northern Zimbabwes in his kingdom, such as Nalatale, and they may even have planned and super­vised the building of such places as Dlo-Dlo, Thabo-ka-Mambo and Khami. There is no evidence that the Ba Lemba were involved in these later building operations— their building skill was disappearing by then, we may believe, and they were gradually falling away into the background.

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It would appear that at the time of the Rozwi con­quest of Monomotapa's territory, about two hundred Portuguese who were taken prisoners, were ransomed by the Portugues Ecclesiatical authorities. It may well be that at that time, Mambo permitted some Portuguese mission­aries into the northern part of the former Butwa-Torwa territory, for there is evidence that at least one of these northern Zimbabwes, a missionary priest was in resi­dence. Certainly the indications are that Mambo lost no opportunity for self-aggrandisement, even to the tak­ing-over of the Mwari cult and posing as its interpreter and sponsor to his peoples. His kingdom lasted till the Ngoni invasion of his territory in 1830, when he was forced to vacate his ivory throne and flee for his life.

Having followed out the history and fortunes of Mono-motapa's Kingdom, we must now proceed to give what historical data we can of the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, in spite of the paucity of information available, for as Theal remarks "The Portuguese knew nothing about that territory except from vague Karanga reports".

THE BUTWA-TORWA TERRITORY. Let us commence with such dates of various events

as may be gleaned from different sources :-1350 Ibn Battutah wrote that gold is brought to Sofala

from the country of the Limis, from Yufi—a month's journey from Sofala.

1440 Some time after 1350 the Kingdom of the Limis was invaded by the BaTonga and BaKalanga, at which time the northern BaNyai of the "limis" became vassals of the BaKalanga.

1493 War between the Ameer or Governor of the Siouna Kingdom and Monomotapa Mukomba, during which the latter was killed, and the Ameer ruled the whole kingdom for four years as he had done formerly.

1497 War breaks out again between the Ameer and Mukomba's son, Kwesarinuto in which the Ameer is k i l l e d . Then the Ameer's son and a relative Tolwa, carry on the war against the Monomotapa

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for thirteen years and longer. From the fact that the Butwa Kingdom was thereafter designated the Butwa-Tolwa Kingdom, it may be deduced that the Ameer Tolwa ruled the Butwa section of the Kingdom, while the Ameer's son ruled in the Sena section.

1505 War continuing according to d'Alcacova, even though Monomotapa sues for peace. D'Alcacova also tries to arrange the bringing about of peace, so that the flow of gold to Sofala may continue, but Tolwa refuses all advances.

1514 Antonio Fernandes finds the war continuing be­tween the Kingdom of Tolwa (now known as the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom) and the Kingdom of Mo-nomotapa. The chief of Inhoqua (Arcturus district according to Tracey) was also at war with Monomo-tapa.

1552 Joao de Barros in Da Asia, reported that "there were other mines in Torwa, which by another name is known as the Kingdom of Butwa, which Kingdom is ruled by a prince called Burum...The land (of Butwa) consists of vast plains, and mines there are the most ancient in the country". (As a point of interest, we would point out that the name of the prince Burum, is an Arab name, and may be seen to be the name of a place in the Hadhramaut, called no doubt, after the local sheik).

1572 War against Mongaz by Baretta,—the Portuguese commander, assisted by the BaKalanga. Mongaz as his name indicates, was chief of the Ngaia or Ngoya, and therefore his kingdom was part of the eastern or Sena side of the Ameer's territory.

1589 The Monomotapa of this period also bore the title of "Mambo". This would seem to indicate that al-ready the people of Mambo—the "Ambo" had invad­ed and over-thrown the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. Emulation on the part of the then Monomotapa may have prompted him also to assume the title of Mambo—a title which would appear to have been in use among the chiefs of different tribes across

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the Zambesi, At this time too, there were powerful tribal movements into and around Monomotapa's kingdom from across the Zambesi.

1614 Purchas, in his book "Pilgrimage" printed in Lon­don in 1614, wrote that other mines than those in Kalanga territory were in the territory of Torwa "wherein are those buildings attributed to some foreign prince...the stones are of marvellous great­ness without any sign of mortar to join t h e m . . . Moors esteemed them beyond human power to build and therefore account them the work of devils...the people (natives who live there) are rude and build cottages (huts) of timber (poles). It may be suspected that the Moors who told Purchas's informant were not going to give the Emozaid the credit for building Zimbabwe, and had perhaps even a secret satisfaction in suggesting that the builders were "devils."

1693 Posselt quotes two writers who state that the Va Karanga were conquered by the Ba Rozwi in the year 1693, this on the authority of a recently dis­covered manuscript in the Lisbon Archives, (from Historical notes in "Souls and Gold" by Fripp).

1770 Theal in his "History of South Africa before 1795" states that the "Emperor" Changamire (as the Por­tuguese called him) was much more powerful than Monomotapa. In the war between them a con­siderable number of Portuguese were made prison­ers by Changamire and they were kept under guard for several years until they were finally ransomed by the ecclesiastical administration for Mozambique.

1835 Bathelo, the Portuguese Governor, wrote in 1835 concerning the ancient mines, that the Emperor Changamire possessed the Abutua mines in the province of Sanhate (Sinyati) and also the Abutua mines situated to south-east of the Zambesi. (from Stewart in the "Ancient Goldfields of Africa).

SOME TRADITIONS CONCERNING THE BUTWA-TO-RWA KINGDOM:

The first of these might be headed "Shangamire and the Nalatale Ruins". These ruins were visited recently

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by the present writer, who was conducted round them by an ancient though active and intelligent Rozwi guide, of whom I ventured to ask if the ruins in their original state were constructed by the Ba Rozwi. He replied that Nalatale, was not built by the Ba Rozwi BaKalanga, BaSotho, or any other African tribe. The building, he said, represented the court of the Rozwi chief—Shanga-mire Mambo. Shangamire had paid much ivory to people (not Portuguese) who had come from the Portuguese territory, to direct the building operations for him. The actual work was done by his vassals under the direction of these people. Shangamire had many tribes under him such as the BaKalanga, BaNyai and others.

He pointed out in the ruins where Shangamire in the past, tried the different cases brought before him for judgement. Shangamire, he added, unlike the English, kept no prisoners, but put to death all offenders against his laws.

Asked about the meaning of the title "Shangamire", he replied that part of the word meant that when a father had his first-born son, he would proudly then rename himself Sha-ka so-and-so, i.e. father of so-and-so, whatever his son's name might be.

On suggesting that Sha-ka-Ameer might mean "father of the Ameer", he replied that he seemed to reeollect hearing of the Ameer and his people. Asked also about Tolwa, he replied that although it wasn't very clear to him—the Ameer and Tolwa and their people were the "mountain dwellers'"—the Ma Domba Shaba. He didn't identify the Ba Lemba with the Ma Domba-shaba. In fact he appeared very reluctant to speak about the Ba Lemba beyond saying that they were "the good people" who now dwelt mainly at Belingwe.

Asked if he had heard of the Ba Senzi, he replied in the affirmative, and stated that they were now Ba Venda, and that their first great chief was Lambeho who was the brother of Rozwi of Shangamire. He pointed out that some Ba Senzi still remained in the country, but when he mentioned the places where they were to be found, it was noticeable that he invariably referred to

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those who dwelt near the Ba Lemba, and of course it is common knowledge that the Ba Lemba refer to all other people, including Europeans as Ba Senzi!

He concluded by telling me that he was a descendant of Shangamire. "In fact", he said, drawing himself erect "I am Shangamire, and my people dwelt over at that mountain across the valley for generations after being disposed by the Swazis".

Here is now another echo from the past about the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom, this time from the Sabi Valley where Dr. J. Holleman carried out research among the Rozwi, Mbiri, and Hera tribes dwelling there. His find­ings are recorded in the work entitled "Seven Tribes of Central Africa". From these writings it becomes appar­ent that the tradition of the Torwa Kingdom still lingers on, though faintly, in the minds of these aforementioned tribes. The many groups of Ba Lemba dwelling among these tribes are called Ba Mwenye, though Holleman writes this name as Mwenyi. Be the name Mwenye or Mwenyi, we would suggest that the meaning of this name is "honoured stranger", as used even among tribes as far away as the Congo, such as the Ba Luba and Bekale-bwe. The former use Mweni instead of Mwenyi, though the latter word is used among the Bekalebwe. The latter people give a great welcome to one coming among them whom they address as "Mwenyi", greeting such with loud hand-clapping and with frequent repetition of this word, which can therefore, only be taken to mean "honoured stranger".

However, to quote Holleman who writes as follows— "The Rozwi tribe in the Wedza Reserve consists of three tribal wards each under a Jinda i.e. the head of a minor house of the Rozwi lineage; the Mbiri tribe in the same Reserve has three wards controlled by a "Mutorwa"—a Mwenyi (i.e. Lemba) group. No Machinda, (Jinda) un­less he occupies a position of authority in the tribal or­ganisation, ranks socially higher that a Mutorwa. Among the Hera, often small fragments of the ruling lineage live in wards controlled by "foreign" unity as represented by him". Obviously Holleman interprets the word Mutorwa as "foreigner", and Va Torwa as foreigners, which seems

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according to Rozwi usage. It is apparent, nevertheless, that Va Torwa originally meant the peoples of the Torwa Kingdom, and further that the Ba Lemba-Mwenyi being Arabs, were looked upon as honoured strangers. The name Torwa still persists near Enkeldoorn as a tribal ward division, though there it is written as Mtoro, which is, as we may believe, an abbreviated form of Torwa, derived of course originally from Tolwa who gave his name to the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. From this research by Holleman it becomes abundantly clear that there is still to be found among those tribes a rememberance, though faint, of rulers in the Torwa tradition. Note in this connection that a Mutorwa ranks at least as high as one of the ruling lineage of the BaRozwi. THE BAM WEN YE.

The readers attention having just now been drawn to the Ba Mwenye, this would seem to be an opportune time to give some further information about them. They are to be found only in the eastern section of what was former­ly the Butwa-Torwa Kingdom. The Eastern boundaries of this kingdom have been defined as well as marked on maps made out by different writers who have done some research on the subject. The consensus of opinion seems to be that the boundary followed the Hunyani River down to near Salisbury, then across to where Marandellas now is, after which it followed the eastern side of the Sabi valley, and down south through somewhere near where the Birchenough Bridge spans the Sabi River.

It is within this area and south from Enkledoorn through Fort Victoria that the Ba Mwenyi are to be found. There they live in discrete groups in places not too far distant to one or other of the Zimbabwes, which fact is not without significance. It may be well to mention some of these places beginning with Great Zimbabwe, which has also its group of Ba Mwenye at a place called Tadzembga only a few miles south of the ruin. Another group is to be found at Ndanga or Zaka which is not far to the north of the Zimvumi ruins found in the Triangle area. The ruins found at Chiwona, Mutowa,

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Matendera, Machuchu and Chibvumani etc; all have groups of Ba Mwenye—at Buhera, Chidza, Nyamandi, Soti, Gutu, Hamandishi, Chari, Bweme and Wingwiri.

At Mtoko, where there are ruins, there is also a group of Lemba, according to R. Summers, but it is not possible to determine whether their affiliations are with the Ba Mwenye, or with the Ba Lemba of Mpossi, without ques­tioning them.

The Ba Lemba of the Belingwe area, are in the midst of a number of Zimbabwe type ruins. It is perhaps neces­sary to point out here for the benefit of those who have thought of the existence of ruins only at Great Zimbabwe, that there are Zimbabwe type ruins all over the Butwa-Torwa area. Hall mentions the names of over 100 of them, and claims that there are about 500 ruins alto­gether.

There are existing differences between the Ba Lemba of Mpossi and the Ba Mwenye-Lemba which have led the author to the conclusion that these two sections of the Ba Lemba originate from different sources. The main difference which has led to this thought is the fact that the Ba Lemba of Mpossi venerate Zaid, while the Ba Mwenye-Lemba venerate Seremane.

Posselt, who writes about the Ba Lemba in "A Short Account Of The Native of Rhodesia" seems to have writ­ten from the point of view of one who was more familiar with the Ba Mwenye. He writes as follows—"The Wa Remba or Ba Soni communities observe customs such as circumcision, and eating only the meat of an animal which before death is bled by a member of the tribe, which indicates a foreign origin. They call themselves Wa Mwenye, and refer to other tribes (including Euro­peans) as Wa Senzi. They insist on their females con­tracting only endogamous marriages. Their religious practices hinge mainly on ancestor worship and centre around Seremane".

Now there are several things which should be noted in the above account by Posselt which, as we have mentioned are applicable only to the Ba Mwenye. These Ba Lemba do not, in fact, use the name Ba Lemba, and many of them don't even appear to be aware that such

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a name exists. Many of them also haven't heard of the Chief Mpossi of Belingwe nor of the Ba Lemba of Ve-ndaland.

Their menfolk greet one another as Mu Soni, and the greeting of the women is Marerwa. The latter word may be interpreted as "the guarded ones"—from a Bantu verb "ku lela"; to guard or watch over. The womenfolk are indeed the guarded ones, for as Posselt points out they can contract only endogamous marriages.

The men's greeting "Mu Soni", causes one to wonder if these Ba Lemba, using the word Soni, and differing, as they do, to a certain extent in their tradition from the Ba Lemba of Mpossi, may not have belonged in the beginning to a different sect of the Moslem faith which held Sunni tradition and not that of Zaid. This supposi­tion is strengthened when we consider that these Ba Mwenye have what Posselt describes as a religious form of ancestor worship centering around Seremane. Although they appear to have had several "Seremane" leaders at different times, because of the reverence and esteem in which the name is held—they still speak of some great leader named Seremane who brought them into this land.

There need be no hesitancy in accepting that Seremane is a corruption for Suleiman, and that in all this there is a remembrance of the Suleiman, who together with Said fled with their people to the east African coast during the persecution which broke out in the early years of Mohammedanism. The Ba Mwenye also mention Said, but somewhat guardedly, and perhaps this stems from an ancient tradition that this name is not to be confused with that of Zaid, who is venerated by the Ba Lemba of Mpossi.

About the years 684 or earlier, the Sheiks Suleiman and Said, of the House of Azd, which had removed from the Yemen to Oman, rose with their people against the overlordship of the Caliph Abdul Malik. The rebellion failed as they were out-numbered by the Caliph's forces, even though they fought bravely. Rather than submit they fled to the land of Zanj on the East African coast. Here their troubles were not ended, for this same Caliph Abdul Malik, in his determined efforts to subdue them,

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sent his Syrian followers after them under the leadership of Ameer Musa. Thus, continued pressure on the follow­ers of Suleiman and Said appears to have caused them to seek for a securer dwelling place than on the coast.

The evidence is in favour of the belief that they went inland and settled in the territory of "Sofala t'il-Dhab"— "The Land of Gold". Thus today, we find in the territory a people bearing all the marks of what one would expect to find after the lapse of nearly 1,300 years. They still call themselves Ba Soni i.e. Sunnis after the name of their religious sect at the beginning of the Moslem era. Though Sunnis—they were nevertheless Sunnis in rebel­lion, as were their kindred—the Zaidi of the Yemen. Their faith and beliefs almost corresponded, for it has often been remarked that very little difference exists between the beliefs of both sects even today. Therefore since both these parties of refugees had almost identical beliefs, and since both were in rebellion against the Caliphs, it can readily be seen that there was every possibility of a union of forces. That this must have been the case seems to be indicated, too, by the fact that certain modern authorities on the history of the coast find difficulty in determining whether the name Emozaid does not include the followers of Suleiman and Said, as well as the followers of Zaid.

Conclusions It may have occurred to the reader since perusing this

book—THE ARAB BULDERS OF ZIMBABWE—that everything depends on the answer to the question "Who were the possible builders in the period around the date given as the outcome of the radiocarbon test?" In attempt­ing to answer this question we must be prepared to take into consideration Mr. Roger Summers contention concerning the durability of Tambootie wood—the wood used in the radiocarbon test. He, it will be remembered, suggests that it may have been used in a previous building, or have lain around for one hundred years or more.

The final date given by the test was the year 702 A.D., so by adding to this the 100 years or more suggested by Roger Summers for the wood to have lain about, we may

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allow for a possible date between the years 700 and 850 A.D.

The result of the said radiocarbon test is ignored by the "Ancient" school, for very obvious reasons, i.e. that what we have described as the "Ancient" period, had already passed, and the suggested date brings us to the period called by Hall "old, but not ancient".

On the other hand, arguments are put forward by the "Modern" school, which should be examined with care and attention. We have therefore, to consider whether the Bantu were already present during the suggested period.

Possibly the earliest date suggested for the arrival of the Bantu is that given by Dr. Caton-Thompson. The first Carbon 14 date indicating the time for the building of Zimbabwe, as determined from one piece of Tambootie wood, was, even as Mr. Roger Summers states in his book "Zimbabwe" (page 56) "a good deal older than Caton-Thompson's earliest date, and far earlier than one which I had tentatively suggested". Later, however, Roger Summers points out that the date must be taken from the piece of Tambootie wood giving the later date. All this has to do with the date of the building, but does not determine who the builders were.

Dr. Caton-Thompson believed, however, that Zimbabwe was built by the Bantu, and accordingly they must have arrived on the scene before the original foundation was laid. This took place, she surmises, in the eighth to ninth centuries. She maintains that examination of all the existing evidence, gathered from every quarter, still can produce not one single item that is not in accordance with the claim of Bantu origin and mediaeval date.

Mr. Roger Summers, commenting on Dr. Caton-Thomp­son's work, summarises that her foundation dates of the eighth to ninth centuries were determined by beads and some sherds of Chinese porcelain pronounced by the British Museum to be probably of the Sung period i.e. from the tenth to the thirteenth century.

The evidence for her dating obtained from beads was contributed by Mr. Horace Beck, who is regarded as an authority. He found that practically all the beads des-

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cribed were similar to heads obtained from sites in India and Malaya, and could be dated from the second to the eighth centuries A.D.

Mr. Summers mentions another authority on African beads—Dr. Van der Sleen, who extends out the existence of these beads considerably. He finds that such beads were manufactured in India between 200 B.C. and 1500 A.D. This pronunciation rather negatives the evidence of the beads, as it could mean that Zimbabwe could have been built at any time within that long period. Beck's pronunciation too, for the same reason, is of little or no use for dating Zimbabwe. This might also be said about the Chinese porcelain which gives a date of between the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. Nothing in either of these finds—beads or porcelain—would militate against the conclusion that the Arabs were the builders. Having their head-quarters as they did, at Sena, where accord­ing to Arab accounts, Indian traders were in attendance, these items would be purchased from the Indians with gold, for work done by the then inhabitants of the land.

Let us now consider once more Mr. Summer's conclu­sions. We will do this all the more carefully in view of the fact that he is regarded by many as the authority on Zimbabwe at this present time; so much so that other writers appear to base their statements concerning Zi-mbabwe on Mr. Summer's findings. It will be recollected that Mr. Summers suggests that there are five phases of occupation of the Zimbabwe area. We, however, need only concern ourselves, as we have done previously, with the first three of these phases.

It should be carefully noted that for his first two phases at least, Mr. Summers nowhere makes the claim that these people of the first two phases were Bantu, holding that this term "Bantu" has more of a linguistic implication than anything else. He does state, however, that the peoples of these first two phases were what he calls "Iron Age" peoples.

The people of his Phase 1, were, he holds, different from the Bushmen, and this conclusion he appears to base mainly on Bushmen paintings which depict the arrival of a people different from themselves. These,

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or similar Bushmen paintings were examined by Abbe Breuil and others, and some of the pictures have been described in Paver's Zimbabwe Cavalcade. These new­comers, from their description, we have indicated in this book to be Hottentots. These paintings give us good reasons for believing that the males of the Bushmen were slain by the newcomers, and their wives and daught­ers taken by them. This union resulted in the production of short-statured people, though slightly taller than the Bushmen themselves. These could be the Phase 1 people of Roger Summers.

Very little difference is to be detected between Sum­mers' Phase 1 Iron Age people, and those of his Phase 2 Iron Age people. However, some of the things mentioned concerning them, would indicate that these Phase 2 people were true Hottentots. The description of the con­struction of their huts is after the manner of the con­struction of Hottentot houses of a later date, with only this difference that Hottentots of a later date used mats to cover the wattle frame-work of their huts, whereas the Zimbabwe Hottentots smeared their huts with a light covering of clay. Summers describes their huts as being made of interlaced sticks covered with clay.

The fact that these Phase 2 people had cattle may also be taken as an indication of their Hottentot origin. The Hottentots (and also indeed the Batwa people en­countered by Fernandes the Degredado) were noted as having cattle.

Mr. Roger Summers gives us a further indication that his Phase 2 people were Hottentots when he writes— "though no skeleton remains of Phase 2 were found at

Zimbabwe, nevertheless a good many burials of a similar period have been unearthed. One place where such skele­ton remains were found was at Mapungubwe, and these people have been described as Hottentot and Bush-Bos-kopoid."

Coming now to Mr. Summer's Phase 3, we find that this heralds the advent of a very different people, and we, not being troubled with the archaeologist's scruples concerning the use of the term "Bantu", have no hesi­tancy in stating that we have in these Phase 3 people,

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the first appearance of the Bantu. The Phase 2 people (the Hottentots) were present at the same time, for Sum­mers observes that a Radio-Carbon test shows that the Phase 2 people still flourished in the eleventh century, and the Radio-Carbon test for the Phase 3 people shows that they were present from at least as early as 1080 A.D.

We have now to consider a very important statement made by Roger Summers with regard to the origin of these Phase 3 people. He asks the question—Who were the builders of Zimbabwe's first stone walls? In reply, he states that archaeology is silent and some other key has to he found to solve this part of the mystery. Then follows this significant statement—"The date for the beginning of Phase 3, about 1100, gives a clue, for the Arab geographer Masoudi, writing in the tenth cen­tury speaks of a tribe of "Abyssinians" as having recently arrived in the Sofala area".

This mention by Mr. Summers of the recent arrival of these Abyssinians in Masoudi's day, is akin to that made by Dr. K. M. Kenyon, who states that the Sofala area was, according to Masudi, "inhabited by a tribe of Abys-sinians who had emigrated there recently''. Other writers too, speak of the recent arrival in Masoudi's day of these "Abyssinians". Against this, however, Dr. Caton-Thomp-

son when writing to the author to grant permission to quote from her book, pointed out that "There is one important correction needed to Dr. Kenyon's Appendix. She states that Masudi relates how Sofala was occupied by a tribe of Abyssinians who had migrated there recently. In the Arabic text of Masudi there is no such word as "recently" and that leaves the period to which he refers completely in the air.

Now while appreciating the point raised by Dr. Caton-Thompson, we would suggest that in view of the fact that a number of noted prominent writers state that the Abys­sinians were recent arrivals when Masoudi wrote—the context of his writing concerning the Abyssinians must strongly give the impression that their arrival was recent. Now whether this is so or not, we have, we believe, proved in this book that these "Abyssinians"—the people of the Waqlimi, as their ruler was referred to by Masoudi,

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and which people were to be known later as the "Limis", were in the Sofala area for a considerable period of time commencing from around the time of Ma-soudi till after the year 1320, as recorded by dif­ferent Arab writers. This fact is undoubtedly borne out, too, by the C14 test mentioned by Roger Summers. He writes that Phase 3 is represented on Zimbabwe Hill by a great mass of daga some twelve feet thick. This represents the decay and rebuilding of daga huts over quite a long period and indeed our radio-carbon dates show that this phase lasted from A.D. 1080 (plus minus 150) to A.D. 1450 (plus minus 150).

Mr. Summers tells us that the Phase 3 huts were quite different from those of the preceding phase—the Phase 3 huts having thick solid daga walls and other well-made items such as floors and benches of well-finished daga.

Who can doubt with the corrobating evidence of the Arab writers before us, that these were the people who came to be referred to by them as the "LIMIS". They, the Limis, were there for at least 350 years as indicated by the test. They couldn't have been in the territory much earlier than the time indicated by the said radio carbon date of 1080 A.D. This, as will readily be seen, is in keeping with the oft-repeated statement that they had arrived on the scene just shortly before Masoudi wrote of their appearance in the Sofala territory.

Summing up then—the first people to settle in Rho­desia were the Bushmen. These were followed by another short-statured people into the Zimbabwe area. This short-statured people were the product of a union hetween the Hottentots and captive Bushmen women whose men­folk the Hottentots had slain. This, as would appear, had taken place in some region further to the north. This short-statured mixed people—possibly as Hottentot slaves, were brought into the Zimbabwe area to work on the building project for the Arab over-lords, possibly under Hottentot slave-masters,

In process of time the pure Hottentots also drifted down into the Zimbabwe area, where they too, were employed in the work of building Zimbabwe. These Hottentots

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also at war, though not only with the Caliphs, but with the Shiia Moslems, of which people they were an here­tical sect. There is every reason to believe that both these refugee groups were united in the Sofala territory at an early date, and that in course of time both people regarded themselves as Sunnis i.e. as those possessing the true Mohammedan faith.

Thus it is to-day, that the people whom we believe to be their descendants—the BaLemba, all call them­selves "Sunnis", though this word has been written down by European writers as Soni, which has, of course, almost an identical sound. All BaLemba too, have a strong tradition that they are Arabs who came to the territory by sea, and for some forgotten reason were unable to return to their own land. Both sections of the BaLemba still venerate their ancient leaders—one section still swearing by Zaid, and the other venerating Suleiman, which name they pronounce as "Seremane". Their Arab origin is acknowledged even among the Bantu. The author once asked an intelligent school-master in the Buhera area "Who are the BaLemba and BaMwenye?" Without even a moments hesitation, he replied "They are Arabs!"

Great Zimbabwe itself, seems to shout out that it was built by Arabs, with its minaret-like-tower, its chevron and other Arab and Saracenic type decorative patterns, to­gether with many other indications. Who then can doubt that this Arab people, the BaLemba-Mwenye people, re­present the ancient builders?

It must be acknowledged today nevertheless, that both sections of the BaLemba—those of Mpossi together with the BaMwenye, have become barely distinguishable from the Bantu tribes in whose midst they dwell, owing to the fact that over so long a period of time, their Arab blood has been receiving an ever-increasing admixture from that of the Bantu. In spite of all this, many having a pronounced Semitic appearance are still to be seen, and this fact, together with the continued preservation of their Semitic customs, distinguish them till now from the Bantu, and cause them to be regarded as a people to be wondered at, almost as much as the things which

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we believe were produced by them in the past—the numerous Zimbabwes, ancient mines, irrigation terraces and fortifications.

It is to be hoped that notices of them such as this may tend to preserve their identity from the utter oblivion, foreshadowed by Bullock, who when writing of the BaLemba—states that "They still swear by Sayid, but they know not who he is, nor do they care, for Africa has enfolded them in her smooth black arms". LOST AND FOUND.

In the foregoing pages the writer has endeavoured to show how two lost Arab peoples are to be identified with the two existing sections of the BaLemba, and thus, if he has been successful—these lost Arab peoples have been "found".

In a previous work entitled "Israel—The Lost Ten Tribes—The Ashkenazim", the author endeavoured to prove that that Nation of Israel, as now restored to Palestine, numbers among its peoples, the remnants of the former two kingdoms of ancient Israel i.e. the King­dom of Samaria and the kingdom of Judah. The ten Tribes which constituted the former Kingdom, mysterious­ly disappeared after being carried into captivity by Assy-ria—these the author identifies with the great Ashkenazic section of Israel; while the smaller section—the Sephar-dim represent the former Southern Kingdom of Judah. This identification we are glad to say has found favour with many prominent Jews.

Then in another book by the author, (with a Presby­terian clergyman as co-author) the effort is made to revive interest in the various Ulster Clans and their ancient territories—the knowledge of which was lost to most of the inhabitants of the North of Ireland, even though many of them bear to this day the different Clan names of the North. The joint authors have reason to believe that their efforts were crowned with quite a degree of success.

In fact, these different attempts to discover lost peoples, tribes, clans and territories may all be described as suc­cessful to some degree though undoubtedly there will be those who will differ strongly from our findings.

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It is now my intention to conclude this book by stating something with absolute certainty, i,e, how lost mankind may be found; and that, by the mercy and love of God manifest through His Son—Jesus Christ.

It is recognised, even as it has been declared in the Bible, that all men everywhere had sinned against God. He, being a God of justice, could not overlook sin, but of necessity must punish the sinner. The punishment for sin is separation from God—the source of life, and this is spoken of in the Bible as being "dead in tres­passes and sins". Thus all were lost to God, and in danger of being eternally separated from Him, and re­tained, as it were, for ever, in His prison. He, however, so loved lost mankind that, in order to show mercy to them, He sent His only begotten Son into the world, where He, "found in fashion as a man", bore the penalty of our sins, by taking them on Himself, and suffering on our behalf.

He, being God's Son, and Himself deity, was greater than all mankind, and was, therefore, by the very value of His sacrifice, able to redeem lost mankind back to God. He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross, on which He bore our sins, and thus satis­fied the demands of justice by dying that we might live. Then, having made a way whereby our sins could be forgiven through His death, He rose triumphant from the dead; and so because of His death and resurrection. He is able to save all who come to Him.

Thus those who were "lost" in sin but who accept His mercy, are "found" of Him, and restored to His Father—not only as sinners and rebels who had obtained mercy and pardon, but much more, as Sons of the living God, with all that this brings to the recipients.

Dear reader, if you haven't as yet experienced God's love and mercy, why not believe on His Son now as your Saviour, and so be reconciled to God, who has pro­mised in His word that WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED?" (Ro-mans 10:13)

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I M P O R T A N T A D D I T I O N A L INFORMATION

A CONFIRMATION: Just as arrangements were being made to have this

book printed, the author discovered an article appearing in NADA 1962 by Dr Von Sicard entitled "Lemba Clans". This article, appears to provide a remarkable confirma­tion of what has been written in this book regarding the BaLemba.

Although Dr. von Sicard says he has "wittingly avoided questions regarding Lemba history", he finds its recon­struction no longer impossible. Evidence at his disposal from Lemba songs pertaining to the circumcision lodge, "would seem to indicate that the origin of their history could be traced back for 1000 years".

He finds that while Lemba names of a recent immigra­tion from Sena are decidedly Swahili-Arab in origin, nevertheless one of these songs of the circumcision lodge, seems to him, to indicate a connection with Pate and the Arab leaders Suleiman and Said. While it need not con­cern us here, it would appear that Dr. von Sicard's point of view is that the BaLemba are related to the Falashas of Ethiopia.

Again, he mentions that a very old Lemba man living near Louis Trichard, of the Hadzi clan of Mposi, told H. A. Stayt more than 30 years ago, that they were con­nected with the Swahili and that the Sadiki family (Mpo-si's clan) were descended from a Mohammedan chief Sahiti, who lived on the East coast. Von Sicard remarks that this latter name could be another version of Sahiri. but it could as well be Saidi, Sayid or Seyyid. This is surely confirmation to us that Mpusi's clan are des­cendants of Zaid. Zaid lived for a time on the East coast before being killed in a clash with the forces of the then Caliph, in the year 739 A.D., after which the fol­lowers of Zaid, it may be assumed, made their way down the coast, and inland to the Land of Gold (Rhode-sia) where already the other refugee body—the followers of Suleiman and Said had found a home.

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Dr. von Sicard lists eighteen Lemba clans as follows (l) Ngabi, (2) Madi, (3) Sadiki, (4) Hamisi, (5) Tobakare, (6) Hasani, (7) Sharifu, (8) Musoni, (9) Duma, (10) Hadzi, (11) Mari, (12) Seremane, (13) Bakari, (14) Nema-nga, (15) Chinyoka, (16) Fadji (17) Mphelo and (18) Chidima.

Some of those listed are sub-clans, while some, such as Seremane and Musoni do not really exist as clans, but are names of particular significance as will be seen from the foregoing pages of this book. The other above-mentioned clans fall into two main groups, even as we have already pointed out in this book. One group of clans are Mposi's people, and as has been demonstrated —are the descendants of the followers of Zaid. The other section, called variously Mwenye and Basoni, are un­doubtedly the descendants of the followers of Suleiman and Said.

Mposi's clans, taking them in the order given by Dr. von Sicard are as follows:

(1)Ngavi, this clan is a section of the main Mposi clan —the Madi clan. Ngavi is stated to be the same as Saidi i.e. Zaid, and it would appear that this clan as­sumed this name in order to venerate the dimly remem­bered name of the founder—Zaid.

(2) The Madi clan, it may be assumed, derived its name from Mahdi, which word in Arabic means "He who is guided aright", "El Mahdi" (states the Enc. Brit) according to Moslem tradition, is to be one of Moham­med's descendants, who as prophesied by Mohammed, would fill the earth with equity and justice. The name Mahdi was given by the Shiities to the last of the Imams of the house of Ali. It was under the name of Al Mahdi that Mokhtar proclaimed Ali, son of Mohammed, as the opponent of the Caliph-Abdal Malik. Thus, this Mahdi would, of course, figure prominently in the history of the followers of Zaid, as he (Zaid) was Ali's grandson.

(3) The Sadiki clan is closely related to the Madi clan, and is stated by some to be Mposi's clan. The name Sadiq, like Mahdi, figures prominently in the early history of the followers of Zaid.

The Chinyoka clan (no. 15) is an offshoot of the Sadiki 142

clan, as is also the Mari clan. Then there is the Hadzi clan (no. 10), which is also related to the Madi clan. The Hadzi clan is stated to be the most important among the BaLemba. Some say this is really Mposi's clan. Von Sicard and Stayt remark on the name with some astonishment, wondering what Lemba man made the pil­grimage to Mecca to entitle him to the title of Hadji. Actually, there is another Arabic word with a similar sound i.e. that of Hadjib, which is a title given to a person of great importance, such as a prime minister, or a chamberlain etc. We need have no hesitancy in assum­ing that this is the word intended. This title would read­ily be applicable to Zaid or one of his descendants of some note, who would be venerated, and his title thus become a clan name. The full clan name is Hadzi-Mbe-rengwa.

It will be remembered that it was a member of this clan who 30 years ago told H. A. Stayt, that Mposi's clan—Sadiki were descended from a Mohammedan chief Sahiti, who lived on the East coast. Von Sicard says this name Sahiti "could well be Saidi or Sayid"— i.e. Zaid.

We must now consider the clans of Suleiman and Said, Suleiman is, of course, Seremane (Stayt renders the name "Seremane" as "Sulemani", according to Von Sicard). Although Seremane is given as a clan name, it appears that it is to be regarded as a general designation rather than the name of a clan. Von Sicard says that evidently the name must be connected with Suleiman, whom the Arab chronicle of Pate mentions together with Said. As stated earlier in the pages of this book the leader Seremane so captivated the imagination of this section of the Lemba—the BaMwenye, that he became the object of ancestor worship. Such veneration is not accorded to his brother Said, though we have now discovered through Dr. von Sicard's article on the Lemba clans, that Said also has a prominent place in the esteem of at least one or two clans—The Duma and perhaps the Bakari.

But before speaking of these we must give the foremost place to the Tovakare clan, which claims to be the great clan of the Lemba, just as the clans of Mposi also have

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one that makes a similar claim. It appears that the Tovakare and associated clans manifest something of a feeling of enmity towards Mposi's clans, and perhaps this stems from the thought that they (the people of Mposi) are intruders in the Seremane territory.

With regard to the name Tovakare this is rendered in the Transvaal as Thobakhali, and there the men of the clan swear by "Thoba". Thus "Thoba" is the name of a person and Khali means "long ago"—so the name may be given as Thoba wa khali, and Thoba or Tova is strongly reminiscent of the name Tolwa or Torwa, the "w" sound and "v" sound in Shona are not far removed. We can conclude without much hesitancy that this is real­ly Tolwa's clan. This clan is represented by the chief Tadzembwa who lives near Zimbabwe. It will be remem-bered that it was Tolwa who carried on the war against Monomotapa after the death of the Ameer.

The name Musoni (No. 8) is unproductive of a clan, as with Seremane. Some Lemba say Basoni is the great tribe, and the name Musoni is used throughout all the clans. However, there are those who claim to be the real Ba Soni. In fact one of the praise names of the Duma clan, is Musoni kwaye-kwaye, which means "the true Basoni" as distinct from others using the name. This bears out what we have already written, i.e. that though the word "Soni" has become general throughout all the Lemba clans, the Seremani-Said people lay special claim to it. Women when answering a call from their men­folk simply call out "Soni!" This means, to our way of thinking, that as the followers of Suleiman and Said were Sunnis—they have not forgotten the name as an honourable mode of address. "Soni" is therefore just the European attempt to write "Sunni", the word which means "an orthodox Mohammedan".

Having already mentioned the Duma clan (No. 9) we can consider this clan still further. The Duma clan is also called Sahiri, i.e. Said, and is undoubtedly so named from Said the joint leader with Suleiman. These two leaders appear to be mentioned traditionally among the Swahili people under the names Chande naGunde, and one of the praise names of the Duma clan is Zungunde.

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Chande, coming first, would of course refer to Suleiman, Both these names are preceded by the word Mwenyi. Evidently the Swahili write this word with the "i" vowel ending as "Mwenyi" and not "Mwenye" as the name is written in Rhodesia. The word is said to be used with reference to persons of the Middle East and Indians, and would appear to have a similar meaning to Mwenyi as used in the Congo i.e. "Mwenyi" meaning "honoured stranger".

According to Von Sicard, the name Saidi (Said) occurs in one of the Duma initiation songs. Duma is stated to have been Said's grandson.

The initiation song just referred to, appears to have a particular reference to another clan, that of Bakari (No. 13). The name Bakari, as has been pointed out by other writers also appears to refer to Abu Bakr, another early Mohammedan notability. This clan takes its name from him. The above mentioned initiation song leaves no doubt about their Arab origin—its opening lines are given as follows:-

"Varava mutuva vamwenye vafuviri. Marapo apati aravi na Saidi Bakari muchakahahani a Saidi vafambe hagari" etc.

Thus in the first line the Bamwenye are identified with the Arabs, and the song states further that the Arabs of Pate, are the Arabs of Said, as are the Bakari. As stated earlier—the Chronicles of Pate mention Sulei­man and Said. However, since the followers of Zaid were also in this Pate area, where are to be found the towns of Kalifu and Lamu etc,—some may believe the reference is to Zaid, because Suleiman is not mentioned for Suleiman and Said are always mentioned together. If the reference is to Zaid then the Bakari are one of Mposi's clans, otherwise they arc related to the Duma, who are also named after Said. One thing in favour of the latter surname, is the mention of Bamwenyi in the poem; though there again, this name, as already pointed out, appears to be a Swahili designation for strangers from the Middle East and India.

It should be noted that Von Sicard states that in the praises of the Bakari, there is one praise name "Mwara-

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vu", which he says "corresponds to Varava, the first word of the song, which can safely be taken to be a contraction of Mu-Aravu—i.e. Arab!" He says further that "Saidi and Bakari are found side by side in our song, and are preceded by "Marapu apati Arabi", which (he says) "I think we are now entitled to explain as meaning something like Arabs, of Pati Arab".

Another clan, the Mangwa or Nemanga (No. 14) are also to be included with the people of Seremane and Said. They lived at Zimbabwe. Although as indicated in this book, we have thought of them as the proto-Sotho Ba Ngai, i,e. the people known to the Arabs as "Limis", having as their totem the lion. There seems, however, good reason to believe that they are to be numbered as BaMwenye-Lemba. Perhaps they are a mixed Lemba-Limi clan. Von Sicard indicates that they came from the Swahili Arab East Coast. He mentions that Stayt has recorded one of their praise songs, which begins as follows "Nemhanga vaZungu vanobra Sena". We suggest that vazungu is simply the name applied to the Ba Lemba as a light-skinned people from their earliest days.

This word "Bazungu" is the Luban word used in the Congo for Europeans and Arabs. Bullock mentions that he has heard its Rhodesian equivalent "Mulungu" (the word for Europeans) used by the Bantu when referring to the Ba Lemba!

As to the remaining clans, they being of minor im­portance, we refrain from commenting on them. We can only conclude with Dr. Von Sicard that there is enough historical evidence in the foregoing to bring the history of the Ba Lemba—Mwenye people back not only 1000 years as he states, but to almost 1300 years, in fact to the time of the flight of Suleiman and Said with their followers from Oman. These refugees of the House of Azd, were already well established in Madagas­car and in the Sofala territory, when Masoudi wrote of them (circa 930), and also of the recent appearance of the first Bantu—the people of the Waqlimi.

One can conclude from this additional evidence that the followers of Suleiman and Said were the builders of Great Zimbabwe, while the followers of Zaid with

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their intimate knowledge of terracing were the engineers of the Inyanga terraces and irrigation schemes, though both peoples undoubtedly co-operated in these matters as well as in their mining and trading activities. In this latter context two clans with pronounced Arab names, that of Hamisi and Sarifu, (or Sharif) arc stated to have been the first to have crossed the Limpopo and to have commenced mining operations at Messina. They were Ba Mwenye. Others, such as the Chidima clan, (18) if such existed, would have been engaged in mining in the Chidima area before the advent of the BaKaranga. A remnant of this clan may remain in the Mtoko area till this present time. All of these clans, those of Mposi (Zaid) and the BaMwenye of Suleiman and Said, were terribly decimated as the result of wars and famines, but the remnant continues still, till now, as the repre-sentatives of these two refugee peoples of early Moham-medan days.

Appendix A

EXTRACTS FROM WRITINGS OF MR. THEODORE BENT—THE FINDS AT THE GREAT ZIMBABWE RUINS:

The next find from Zimbabwe which we will discuss is the circular soapstone object with a hole in the centre, which at first is suggestive of a quern but being of such friable material such could not have been the

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case. It is decorated round the side and on the top with rings of knobs, four on the side and four on the top; from the centre hole a groove has been cut in the side, and the whole is very well finished off. This thing is two feet two inches in circumference. We also found portions of a smaller bowl with the same knob pattern thereon. The use of this extra-ordinary soapstone find is very obscure.

The Great Zimbabwe Birds: Let us take the birds perched on the tall soapstone

columns, which, from the position in which we found most of them, would appear to have decorated the outer wall of the semicircular temple on the hill. These birds are all conventional in design. The largest stood five feet four inches in height, the smallest about half a foot lower. We have six large ones and two smaller ones in all, and probably from the number of soapstone pedestals with the tops broken off which we found in the temple, there were several more. Though they are all different in execution, they would appear to represent the same bird; from the only one in which the beak is preserved to us intact, we undoubtedly recognise that they must have been intended to represent hawks or vultures. The thick neck and legs, the long talons and the nature of the plumage point more distinctly to the vulture; the decor-ations on some of them, namely the dentelle pattern on the edge of the wings, the necklace with a brooch in front

and continued down the back, the raised rosette-shaped degree of conventionality, evolved from some sacred eyes, and the pattern down the back point to a high symbolism of which these birds were the embodiment, the nature of which symbolism it is now our object to arrive at.

Two of the birds, similar in character, with straight legs and fan-shaped tails different from the others, are represented as perched on zones or cesti; two others have only indications of the cestus beneath their feet; a fifth, with nothing beneath its feet, has two circles under it, and two on the wings; a sixth is perched on a chevron pattern similar to that which decorates the large circular

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temple hence there is a sort of similarity of symbolism connecting them all.

We have now to look around for comparisons by which we may hope to identify the origin of our birds, and I have little doubt that they are closely akin to the Assy­rian Astarte or Venus and represent the female element in creation. Similar birds were sacred to Astarte among the Phoenecians and are often represented as perched on her shrines.

Of the maternal aspect in which the ancient Egyptians held the vulture we have ample evidence. Horapollo tells us that the vulture was emblematic of Urania, a year, a mother; whilst Aelian goes so far as to suppose that all vultures were females, to account for their character as emblems of maternity. The cesti and circles point ob­viously to this, and these birds in connection with phallic worship are interesting as emblems, signifying incubation.

In the difficult question of early Arabian cult, which was closely bound up with that of Egypt, Assyria and Phoenicia, we find the vulture as the totem of a Southern Arabian tribe at the time of the Himyaritic supremacy, and it was worshipped there as the god Nasr, and is mysteriously alluded to as 'the Vulture of the East and the Vulture of the West'....

The religious symbolism of these birds is further attest­ed by our finding two tiny representatives of the larger emblems; they too represented birds on pillars, the longest of which is only three and a half inches, and it is perched on the pillar more as the bird is represented in the Zodiac of Denderah. Evidently these things were used as amulets or votive offerings in the temple. Lucian alludes to the phalli used as amulets by the Greeks with a human figure on the end, and he connects them with the tower thirty cubits in height.

In the centre of the temple on the hill stood an altar, into the stones of which were inserted and also scattered around a large amount of soap-stone objects representing the phallus either realistically or conventionally, but al-ways with anatomical accuracy which unmistakably con-veys their meaning, and proves in addition that circumci­sion was practised by this primitive race, 'its origin both

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among the Egyptians and Ethiopians' says Herodotus 'may be traced to the most remote antiquity' . . . .

In the upper temple we found no less than thirty-eight minature representations of the larger emblem, one is a highly ornate object, with apparently a representation of a winged sun on its side, or perchance the winged Egyptian vulture, suggesting a distinct Semitic influence.

Excavation yielded examples of the veneration of stones among the early inhabitants... El Masoudi alludes to the ancient stone-worship of Arabia, and leads us to believe that at one time this gross fetishism formed a part of the natural religion of the Semitic races. Mari-nus of Tyre says they (the Semitic races) honoured as a god a great cut stone. Euthymius Zygabenus further tells us that apparently 'this stone was the head of Aphrodite, which the Ishmaelites formerly worshipped, and it is called Bakka Ismak'; also he adds 'they have certain stone statues erected in the centre of their houses, round which they danced till they fell from giddiness; but when the Saracens were converted to Christianity they were to anathematise this stone, which formerly they worshipped. Herr Kremer, in his account of the ancient cult of Arabia, makes frequent allusions to the stone worship. In the town of Taif a great unformed stone-block was worshipped, identical with the goddess which Herodotus calls Urania; and one must imagine that the Kaaba stone of Mecca resembles the black schistose block which we found at Zimbabwe; it is an exceedingly old-world worship dating back to the most primitive ages of mankind.

Exploration Journeys in Mashonaland to Ancient Gold Workings:

In Bent's account of his exploration journeys in Ma-shonaland he mentions visiting some ancient gold work­ings twenty-five miles from Salisbury in the Mazoe dis­trict. He writes—"The first set of old workings which we visited...consisted of rows of vertical shafts, now filled up with rubbish sunk alongside the edge of the auriferous, reef, and presumably, from instances we saw

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later, communicating with one another, by horizontal shafts below. We saw several instances of sloping and horizontal shafts all pointing to considerable engineering skill. It must have been ages since these were worked, for they are all filled nearly to the surface with debris, and huge mashabel trees, the largest in the vicinity are growing out of them. We then proceeded to some old workings about a mile and a half off on the hill slopes. One vertical shaft which had been cleared out for us was 55 feet deep. Down this we went with considerable difficulty, and saw for ourselves the ancient tool marks and the smaller horizontal shafts which connected the various holes bored into the gold-bearing quartz.

I am told that near Hartley Hills some of these old workings go down even to a greater depth, and that one has been cleared out to the depths of eighty feet, proving incontestably that the ancient workers of these mines were not content with mere surface work, and followed the reef with the skill of a modern miner.

All above here the ground is honey-combed with old shafts of a similar nature, indicated now by small round depressions in straight lines along the reef where dif­ferent shafts had been sunk; in fact, the output of gold in centuries gone by must have been enormous...

There are ruins here similar to those at Zimbabwe and the old workings in the Tati district. The old work-ings and ruins extend for miles and miles up the Mazoe Valley. Numerous old shafts are to be found at Hartley Hills and on the Mswezwe River. Near Fort Victoria and in the immediate vicinity of Zimbabwe the prospectors have lately brought to light the same features; every­where, in short, where the pioneer prospectors have as yet penetrated, overwhelming proof of the extent of the ancient industry is brought to light. Mr. E. A. Maund thus speaks of the old workings in the Mswezwe district: "On all sides there was testimony of the enormous amount of work that had been done by the ancients for the production of gold. Here, as on the Mazoe and at Umtali, tens of thousands of slaves must have been at work taking out the softer parts of the casing of the

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reefs, and millions of tons have been overturned in their search for gold".

In all these places, too, as in the Mazoe Valley, es­pecially down by the streams, are found crushing-stones, some in long rows, suggesting the idea that the gold had been worked by gangs of slaves chained together in rows, after the fashion depicted on the Egyptian monu­ments... We were shown traces (at Mazoe) of a cement smelting furnace similar to the one we discovered in the fortress at Zimbabwe, showing that all the various processes of gold production, crushing, washing and smelting were carried out on the spot.

(In the Mazoe area) is a small ancient fort, built as usual on a granite kopje, and constructed with courses of wonderful regularity, equal to what we term the best period of Zimbabwe architecture... It was obviously built as a fort to protect the miners of the district, and is a link in the chain of evidence which connects the Zimbabwe ruins with the old ruins scattered over the country.

Further up the Mazoe Valley, near Chipadzi's kraal is another ruin near where old workings are very numer­ous, and where as many as seventy-five crushing stones have been counted on one single claim on the Nyota Mountain. The courses of the wall of the adjacent ruin are as regular as at Zimbabwe. The natives in this place could tell nothing about the ruins, nor did they attach any special interest to them".

. . . .Arabian writers of the ninth and tenth centuries A.D., frequently allude to the gold of Sofala....Zaneddin Omar ibn I'Wardi gives us an account of the Zenj (of the Sofala country). He wrote in the 336th year of the Hegira that "their habitations extend from the ex­tremity of the gulf to the low land of gold, Sofala 't il Dhab", and remarks on a peculiarity of theirs, namely, that they sharpen their teeth and polish them to a point. He goes on to say: Sofala 'til Dhab adjoins the eastern borders of the Zenj. . . . the most remarkable produce of this country is its quantity of native gold, that is found in pieces of two or three meskella, in spite of

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which the natives generally adorn their persons with ornaments of brass".

El Masoudi, who has been called the Herodotus of Arabia, gives still further details about the race, (the Zenj), speaking of Sofala as a place to which the Arabs of his time went habitually to obtain gold and precious stones from the natives. He is more explicit about the descent from the north of the Zenj tribes, which took place not long before his day; and unless there was a previous race of barbarians, concerning whom we have no account, it may be supposed that it was owing to their advent that the gold settlements up country were finally abandoned, and the Arab traders restricted to the coast. Describing the natives behind Sofala, he speaks of them as negros naked except for panther skins; they filed their teeth and were cannibals; they fought with long lances, and had ambuscades for game. They hunted for elephants, but never used for their own purposes the ivory or gold in which their country abounded. From this picture it is easy to see that the inhabitants in those days were just as they are now, an uncultured wild race of savages. We get another testimony to this in the voyage of two Arabs who went to China in 851 A.D., and returned by the east coast of Africa. The account translated describes the Zenj as follows: Among them are preachers who harangue them clad in a leopard skin. One of these men with a staff in his hand shall present himself before them, and having gathered a multitude of people about him, preach all day to them, and speaks of God and recites the actions of their country-men who have gone before t h e m " . . . . A b u Zeyd's evidence is also to the same effect as he writes of

the Zenj; Idrisi gives a similar testimony.

More about Bent's finds at Great Zimbabwe:

The finds which touch perhaps on the most interesting topic of all, are those which refer to the manufacture of gold. Close underneath the temple stood a gold-smelting furnace, made of very hard cement of powdered granite, with a chimney of the same material, and very neatly

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bevillcd edges, portions of which I brought home with me.

Hard by in a chasm between two boulders, lay all the rejected quartz casings from which the gold-bearing quartz had been extracted, by exposing them to heat prior to crushing, proving beyond a doubt that these ruins, though not immediately on a gold reef, formed the capital of a gold-producing people, who had chosen the hill fortress with its granite boulders, owing to its peculiar advantages for strategic purposes; and the recent discoveries of gold reef near Zimbabwe form interesting evidence to the same effect.

Near the furnace we found many little crucibles of a composition of clay, which had been used for smelting the gold, and in nearly all of them exist small specks of gold adhering to the glaze formed by the heat of the process. There are tools also among our finds for ex­tracting gold—burnishers, crushers etc., and an ingot mould of soapstone of a curious form, which is still in use among the natives much further north for ingots of iron.

An interesting parallel to the ancient gold workings in Mashonaland is to be found by studying the accounts of the ancient gold working of the Egyptian gold mines in the Wadi Allaga. The ancient Egyptians also extracted gold from quartz by means of crushing and washing, as we see from the process depicted in the paintings on the Egyptian tombs; and in any gold-producing quarter of Mashonaland, near old shafts and by the side of streams innumerable crushing stones are still to be seen, used anciently for like purpose. In several places there are long rows of these crushing stones, sixty or seventy in a row, which would seem to indicate that the slaves ernploy-ed in the labour worked in rows chained together.

Diodorus tells us of the gangs of slaves employed in this arduous labour by the ancient Egyptians, and of the long dark shafts into which they they descended. In the Mazoe district we entered several of these ancient shafts, and it is obvious here that not only for working the mines, but for the construction of the massive buildings, similar gangs of slaves were employed. After describing

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the process of crushing and washing, Diodorus concludes: "They then put it into earthen crucibles, well closed with clay and leave it in a furnace for five successive days and nights, after which it is suffered to cool. The cruci­bles are then opened and nothing is found in them but the pure gold, a little diminished in quantity".

Here we have an exact parallel to our clay crucibles of Zimbabwe. Furthermore the gold workers of Zimba­bwe were acquainted like the ancient gold workers of Egypt, with the art of plating. This is evidenced by the spear-head we there found, with a very heavy plating of gold thereon; also plating is observed on two other small fragments of iron; and an instrument found in close proximity to the furnace has obviously been used in beating gold.

I did not think much of the iron implements we found at Zimbabwe at the time, knowing the skill of the modern kaffirs in working iron, and the avidity with which they collect all iron fragments to remelt in their furnaces. However, we brought everything home with us, thinking that possibly some of the specimens might belong to an earlier period. The spearheads are obviously of the same pattern as the gilt one, which is distinctly of ancient date, having the ogee fluting still in vogue amongst the Kaffir tribes; then there are bells like those found now thousands of miles away on the Congo, which possibly may have been an ancient pattern which the Kaffirs in the Congo, with their conservative tendencies have still retained. There is work, too, in iron quite above the capabilities of modern Kaffirs, and tools—chisels and adzes, and spades all pointing to a higher state of civilisation....

The ruins, as is obvious, formed a garrison for pro­tection for a gold-producing race in remote antiquity. Forts of a similar structure are found all the way through the gold-producing country, and were erected to protect the mines.

The cumulative evidence in favour of this race being one of the many tribes of Arabia is very strong. The special cult, the monolithic decorations and the later

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evidence of Arabian intercourse with this country when their power was reduced only to the coastline.

Further notes from Bent's discoveries: (1) Bent found on some of the objects he unearthed

a suggestion of writing, which, he says, has the appear­ance of letters in the early Arabian alphabet.

(2) The Periplus tells us that the Sabean king Khara bit, in 35 A.D., was in possession of the east coast of Africa to an indefinite extent, and that the Arab settle-ment at Rhapta was subject to the sovereignty of Maphartes, dependency of Sabaea or Yemen.

(3) Bent writes about the Munyies that "Monteiro and Gamitto, two Portuguese travellers relate how the negroes near the Zambesi being Munyaes revere royal lions of great corpulence as containing the souls of their ancestors. When the Munyaes discover the lions eating their prey, they go on their knees at a distance and creep, clapping their hands and begging them with humility to remem-ber their slaves, who are hungry, and that when they were men they were always generous; so that the lions may re-tire and the negroes profit by what they leave behind. (Author's note: This veneration of the Lion by these BaNyai people is significant in view of the fact that the leading section of the BaNgoya to enter South Africa, was the Ba Taung, so called because of their having the lion as totem. The greeting of the BaPedi in the Pieters-burg area is also "Tau"—lion. It will be remembered that in Dimashqui's time the ruler of the Limis was called Touklim—"the lion of God". All of which is very suggestive).

(4) In Bent's book "The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland" he says that the natives (Mashona) kneel before a tree and burn snuff, saying as they do so: "Muali" (the native name for God). (Author's note: It will be observed here how close this word is to the Arab Name for God— Allah, especially if the "mu" prefix is taken away. Actually one writer reports that in the neighbourhood of Sena, Mu-alli is in use as the name for God. This seems clearly a corruption for Mu-Allah).

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Appendix B

PROBABLE PLACE OF ORIGIN OF BAKARANGA (BAKALANGA) INDICATED IN H. M. STANLEY'S "HOW I FOUND LIVINGSTONE":

"We made a short halt at noon, for rest and refresh­ment. I was shown the hills from which the Tanganika could be seen, which bounded the valley of the Liuche on the east. I could not contain myself at the sight of them. Even with this short halt I was restless and un­satisfied. We resumed the march again. I spurred my men forward with the promise that tomorrow should see their reward.

We were in sight of the villages of the WAKARANGA; the people caught sight of us, and manifested considerable excitement, I sent men ahead to reassure them, and they came forward to greet us. This was so new and welcome to us, so different from the turbulent Wavinza and the black-mailers of Uhha, that we were melted. But we had no time to loiter by the way to indulge our joy. I was impelled onward by my almost uncontrollable feelings. I wished to resolve my doubts and fears. Was HE still there? Had HE heard of my coming? Would HE fly?

How beautiful UKARANGA appears! The green hills are crowned by clusters of straw-thatched cones. The hills rise and fall; here denuded and cultivated, then in pasturage, here timbered, yonder swarming with huts. The country has somewhat the aspect of Maryland.

We cross the Mkuti, a glorious little river! We ascend the opposite bank, and stride through the forest like men who have done a deed of which they may be proud. We have already travelled nine hours, and the sun is sinking rapidly towards thc west; yet, apparently, we are not fatigued.

We reach the outskirts of Niamtaga, and we hear drums beat. The people are flying into the woods; they desert their villages, for they take us to be Ruga-Ruga— the forest thieves of Mirambo, who, after conquering the Arabs of Unyanyembe, are coming to fight the Arabs

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of Ujiji. Even the King flies from his village, and every man, woman and child, terror-stricken follows him. We enter into it and quietly take possession, and my tent is set. Finally, the word is bruited about that we are Wangwana, from Unyanyembe. "Well, then, is Miramba dead?" they ask. "No", we answer. "Well, how did you come to Ukaranga?" "By way of Ukonongo, Ukawendi. and Uhha". ''Oh-hi-le" Then they laugh heartily at their fright, and begin to make excuses. The King is introduced to me, and he says he had only gone to the woods in order to attack us again—he meant to have come back and killed us all, if we had been Ruga-Ruga. But then we knew the poor king was terribly frightened, and would never have dared to return, had we been Ruga-Ruga—not he. We are not, however, in the mood to quarrel with him about an idiomatic phrase peculiar to him, but rather take him by the hand and shake it well, and say we are so very glad to see him. And he shares in our pleasure, and immediately three of the fattest sheep, pots of beer, flour and honey are brought to us as a gift, and I make him happier still with two of the finest cloths I have in my bales; and thus a friendly pact is entered into between us.

While I write my diary of this day's proceedings, I tell Selim to lay out my new flannel suit, to oil my boots, to chalk my helmet, and fold a new puggaree round it, and that I make as presentable an appearance as possible before the whiteman with grey beard, and before the Arabs of Ujiji, for the clothes I have worn through jungle and forest are in tatters. Good-night; only let one day come again, and we shall see what we shall see.

November 10th, Friday—The 236th day from Baga-moyo, and the 51st day from Unyanyembe. General direction to Ujiji, west-by-south. Time of march, six hours.

It is a happy glorious morning. The air is fresh and cool. The sky lovingly smiles on the earth and her chil-

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dren. The deep woods are crowned in bright green leaf-age; the water of the Mkuti, rushing under the emerald shade afforded by the bearded banks, seems to challenge us for the race to Ujiji, with its continuous brawl.

We are outside the village cane fence, every man of us looking as spruce, as neat, and happy as when we embarked on the dhows at Zanzibar, which seems to us to have been ages ago—we have witnessed and ex­perienced so much. "Forward!"

"Forward!"

"Ay Wallah, ay Wallah, bana yango!" and the light-hearted braves stride away at a rate which must bring us in view of Ujiji. We ascend a hill over-grown with bamboo, descend into a ravine through which dashes an impetuous little torrent, ascent another short hill, then along a smooth footpath running across the slope of a long ridge, we push on as only eager, light-hearted men can do.

In two hours I am warned to prepare for a view of the Tanganika, for from the top of a steep mountain the kirangozi (leader of the caravan) says I can see it. I almost vent the feelings of my heart in cries. But wait, we must behold it first. And we press forward and up the hill breathlessly, lest the grand scene hasten away. We are at last on the summit. Ah! not yet can it be seen. A little further on—just yonder, oh! there it is —a silvery gleam. I merely catch sight of it between the trees, and—but here it is at last! True—THE TANGA­NIKA! and there are the blue-black mountains of Ugoma and Ukaramba. An immense broad sheet, a burnished bed of silver—lucid canopy of blue above—lofty moun­tains are its valances, palm forests form its fringes! The Tanganika!—Hurrah! and the men respond to the exultant cry of the Anglo-Saxon with the lungs of Stentors, and the great forest and the hills seem to share in our triumph.

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A p p e n d i x C

MOSQUES AND MINARETS:

The oldest existing Moslem monument is the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem, built by the Caliph-al-Malik and finished in 691. It is a concentric annular structure ...between the outer octagon and inner circle is an intermediate octagonal arcade.

Photographs of the different types of mosques appear­ing in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, show one of the mosques of Sheikh Omar, Baghdad, Irak, built during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786-809). This mosque has a minaret which has somewhat of the appearance of a conical tower. There is a smaller minaret in the back­ground.

A minaret is, of course, the tower from which the call to prayer is given for Moslems five times a day. In the time of Mohammed no such thing as a minaret was known; when he and his followers first came to Medina, they prayed without any preliminary call to prayer. But having heard that the Jews used a horn and the Chris­tians a naqus or clapper, they wanted an equivalent. Mohammed therefore ordered Bilal to give the call to prayer from the highest roof near the mosque.

The first minarets of Islam were the four square towers at the corners of the temenos or sacred inclosure of the pagan god (perhaps Haddad) who was worshipped at Damascus. This temenos was the enclosure which is now the Great Ommayad mosque. Ibn al-Faqih (903) refers to these towers, saying "the minarets which are in Damascus mosque were originally watch-towers in the Greek day". Masoudi (943) says "then came Chris-tianity and the temenos became a church, then came Islam and it became a mosque and the sawami (the four corner towers) were not changed; they serve for the call to prayer at the present day". A square became the Syrian type of minaret and remained so until after 1200.

In north Africa the oldest minaret, that of Kairouan is likewise a square tower with a small second one set back or placed at opposite ends of the main facade.

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The men who formed the armies of the Mohammedan conquest were mainly Bedouin, but even those who came from permanent settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, knew nothing of art and architecture... (Enc. Brit. Vol. 12).

A p p e n d i x D

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THE ARAB BUILDERS OF ZIMBABWE

This book is about The BaLemba, who are found in discrete groups in par ts of Rhodesia and the Northern Transvaal . They are undoubtedly of Arab origin, and all the evidence indicates tha t their two sections are the descendants of two Arab Mohammedan refugee peoples who fled to the Eas t Coast of Africa, and then inland to Rhodesia. The first group - the followers of Suleiman and Said fled from Oman in 684 A.D., and the second group—the followers of Zaid fled from the Yemen in (circa) 720 A.D. This book gives reasons for believing t ha t these two Arab peoples were the builders of Great Zimbabwe, the makers of t he Inyanga terraces, and the engineers of the ancient mines found throughout Rhodesia.